P N Munde, conservator of forest, SGNP-Borivali, said, “We shifted the deer nearly a month ago. The animals were transported in batches in special trucks as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.”

According to B Majumdar, chief wildlife warden of Maharashtra, “First, the animals were all medically tested and declared fit for rehabilitation. Our other concerns were to remove the animals without causing them any trauma and ensure that the new habitat is closest to their original one.” Majumder added that as part of the rehabilitation, the animals were kept and fed in an enclosure at Tungareshwar for a few days before being exposed to the wild.

The issue of the illegal zoo was first reported by Newsline in April 2007, when animal welfare NGO Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) alleged that the deer were kept there illegally and in poor conditions and maintained by the BMC’s hydraulic department at a cost of over Rs 15 lakh a year. PAWS alleged that the deer faced floods every monsoon as the garden is situated in a low-lying area.

In February 2006, the BMC requested the forest officials to release the deer into Sanjay Gandhi National Park following which, the forest department seized the animals on April 1, 2006. They had stated that the BMC neither had permission from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) nor the Wildlife Authority to keep them in their custody and display them.

The seizure was executed under the Wildlife Conservation Act of 1972 and Central Zoo Act of 1992. However, after the seizure, the animals were handed back to the BMC to be kept in the same conditions “till further instruction”.