India, Dec. 28 -- A female Sambar, a potential mother, fell prey to the most horrific of poaching practises on Friday afternoon. Her jaw and face were blown up after she innocently bit into a crude improvised explosive device (IED) concealed in an 'atta' (wheat flour) ball laced with jaggery and grains in the jungle adjoining the National Fertilisers Ltd. (NFL) complex in Nangal, Punjab. Its plight was such that no medical assistance could have saved it. A gunshot in the head would have been a quick, merciful act.

Following the blast, the bleeding female was set upon by three dogs, including a Pitbull, that bit it viciously and hung onto the deer as she ran helter-skelter in panic and catastrophic pain. An empathetic local, Tilak Raj, wa...