India, July 20 -- Gurpreet Singh looked askance at the Banur canal that goes past his lands at Shambu Khurd village in Patiala district. He wanted to water his fields but there was a dribbling flow. Just then his eye glimpsed upon a young animal stranded in the cemented canal which he initially thought was a calf. His farm hand corrected him to point out it was a deer. "I was concerned that stray dogs may attack it, so I got my farm hand to enter the canal and rescue it after following it for 1.5 km. I took the deer to my home in Pilkhani village on the Rajpura bypass and kept it in safety after contacting the wildlife department, whose team came promptly and took it away. The deer was scared of humans and did not eat the fodder we offered," Singh told this writer. After this fortuitous rescue, there was more drama in store. Wildlife officials mistook it for the Chital (Spotted deer) owing to the white spots. However, Punjab is not part of the known geographical range of the Chital. That apart, a young Hog deer (Parrah) is also known to bear white spots. So, the specimen rescued by Singh was actually a Parrah, a very rare record for Patiala and the deeper Punjab plains. Parrah is otherwise recorded in the Gurdaspur riverine belt and river plains emerging from Shivaliks. In past years, two Parrahs have been similarly rescued from canals originating from Roopnagar. This Parrah could possibly have been swept by monsoonal surge into the canal from Ghaghar grasslands. Based on their incorrect identification (Chital), wildlife officials released it in Bir Moti Bagh sanctuary, Patiala. However, that is not a conducive habitat as Parrah is a grassland and river specialist, and inhabits grass-covered delta plains or open grass plains where grass is not too high. Though Punjab government claims that Parrahs are also present in minuscule numbers at Bir Moti Bagh, a more considered choice of habitat could have been exercised by officialdom for the rescued Parrah given its age, traumatised condition and grassland preferences....