Residents of Ujjal Nagar at Hengerabari here are co-existing with barking deer.

The show of humanity was in sharp contrast to an incident where a male deer was chased and hacked to death by miscreants in Udalguri district on March 15, shocking animal lovers.

Locals said the deer roams freely around the hilly tracts inhabited by humans and feeds from the kitchen gardens in the backyard of the households.

“It is very pleasing to see deer roaming in the area, probably in search of food. People are fond of the deer and offer them vegetables to eat. Every household has kitchen gardens in their backyards. The deer like to feed on cabbages and tomatoes from the gardens and people don’t mind,” said Jatin Baruah, a resident.

“The first deer was sighted around five months ago. We call it xor pohu (deer with long horns). With the horns, it would be around six-foot-four-inches tall and quite healthy. It was grazing along with cattle on the hilly tracts. On gaining confidence with passing time, it started frequenting all households,” Baruah said.

“The deer have gained weight after visiting the households,” another resident said.

“The bigger one has stopped coming but a smaller one, weighing around 30kg, still comes to this area. The neighbourhood always keeps a bowl of vegetables for it. The deer has become so friendly that it can be hand-fed,” said Manash Mohan, who sighted the deer for the first time.

However, locals are apprehensive that forest officials could take the visitors away after learning about their forays into human habitation.

“The deer might have come from the adjacent Hengerabari reserve forest. In this case, we don’t need to translocate them. This is an example of co-existence but people should keep in mind that the deer get adequate food,” Assam state zoo divisional forest officer Tejas Mariswamy said.