The forest department yesterday caught two blackbucks in Mandi village in the Southern Ridge near Mehrauli. Some locals in the nearby JJ clusters complained to the Mehrauli police station that stray ``dogs'' were troubling and injuring them. The forest department rushed to the spot and captured the two blackbucks, one male and the other female.

``Seeing their health, it was very clear that they had been in captivity for a long time and had been left there recently. The Ridge area belongs to the forest department and no blackbucks had been spotted in the past,'' said Ishwar Singh, deputy conservator of forest (West).

In another incident today, a forest department team led by two inspectors raided another farmhouse in Najafgarh called Chetan belonging to Ganga Saran and seized three blackbucks and two sarus cranes. Two of them were six years old while one was only a year old. The owner of the farmhouse was also arrested and will be presented at Tis Hazari courts tomorrow.

The department has also got tip-offs from other areas where farmhouse owners might have abandoned more such animals. One such area is near the Videsh Sanchar Nigam building in Mehrauli which is thickly wooded. Some farmhouses are also located in the area. Blackbucks along with other animals are reported to have suddenly appeared in that green cluster.

Police believe that farmhouse owners have also been scared by another incident in which two blackbucks were seized from eunuchs in Sultanpuri recently. They were arrested and kept in police custody. The guilty were later remanded in judicial custody.

Sources in the department say that there are as many as 40 blackbucks being kept as pets in the farmhouses of Delhi. But what is worse is that they are being abandoned in panic, risking their safety. This is especially true of those belonging to families from UP where these animals are found in plenty.

``We have got information from a lot of places but we need confirmation before we raid them. But due action will be taken against them,'' said Singh.

The captured blackbucks were taken to the Society for Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (SPCA) and then later given to the zoo. Although it is a holiday, the forest department is hot on the blakbuck trail with one jeep, a gypsy and a truck having been pressed into service.

Blackbucks though not really dwindling in numbers are listed as Schedule I animals as they are only found in certain pockets of UP and Rajasthan.