Meera Bhardwaj
With the lockdown continuing to curb the spread of Pandemic, it has been tough for the state forest department to ensure that protected and territorial areas are free from hunting of wild animals. However, Karnataka forest officials have been successful in checking the hunting of many a wildlife species with arrest of more than 30 offenders in the last 52 days.
According to forest officials, it has been the territorial areas rather than protected areas that have borne the brunt of snaring or hunting of animals. If some areas have seen the installation of snare traps, other regions have seen hunting of mammals and reptiles. However, in the last few weeks, the frontline staff has managed to foil many poaching attempts by combing many sensitive areas and removing snare in and around wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves. Till date, more than 15 cases have been booked while more than 30 habitual and other offenders have been arrested.
Unfortunately, the lockdown has seen the killing of antelopes like spotted deer, mouse deer, barking deer as also other species like monitor lizard and wild boar. Some offenders were involved in transporting teak trees while others were involved in collecting wild honey from a sanctuary. Incidents of hunting for meat were reported from Sagar, Bhadravati, Sirsi, Gopinatham and Ambligola.
LAYING OF SNARE TRAPS
Many offenders were held and produced before the courts for installing snare traps in protected areas and reserve forests ; for possessing arms and ammunition and various other kind of arms and illegal entry into forests. In the protected river belt of Cauvery, fishermen were held for laying illegal fishing nets. Other offences included cutting timber trees, setting fire to forests, etc. These incidents were reported from Anandpuram, Kaggalipura, Sira, Sangam, Periyapatna, HD Kote, Anekal, Kothnur and Hunsur.
Senior forest official state that field staff has been directed to maintain strict vigil in sensitive areas and take immediate action. The lockdown has witnessed the movement of lot of people from urban to rural areas and some of them who are idle and have nothing on hand, have been trespassing and involved in poaching of small animals.
RISE IN HUNTING CASES
Sanjai Mohan, Karnataka PCCF added, “Nobody should take advantage of the lockdown. We have asked the concerned DCFs to maintain high vigil and take strict action. There has been a big rise in hunting incidents since the lockdown was enforced from March 24. However, the strength of our APC are good and they have maintained high vigil and managed to foil many wildlife killings.”
However, the state’s two protected areas of MM Hills and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuaries have borne the brunt of rising poaching cases due to its border with Tamilnadu. In fact, officials from both the PA conducted a raid recently alongside the Cauvery River from Doddamakali to Muthathi and recovered country boats, fishing nets and other materials.
The combined raid revealed that out of work people who had returned to their home towns were involved in illegal fishing inside the two protected forests. In these two sanctuaries where the Cauvery flows, all fishing activity is banned, however, on the Tamilnadu side, it is allowed. This has resulted in lot of problems leading to illegal fishing despite objections from forest officials.
CROSS BORDER POACHING
Even before the lockdown, both the PA have been facing the issues of continued poaching with many habitual hunters coming from the TN side, committing the offence and crossing over to the other side. “We have been facing problems in these two PA despite the deployment of good number of anti-poaching camps on our side. But on the TN side, the strength of their APC is very weak which has led to rising incidents on our side,” adds the PCCF.
On their part, welcoming the strict vigil in protected areas, wildlife activists said there is need for deployment of APC in territorial areas which have a rich habitat and are home to big and small herbivores and carnivores. Hunting is more in reserve forests and protection measures needs to be strengthened while field staff are in need of protective gear and equipment to take up new and newer challenges in the coming days to protect our forests. Cases are booked but most of the time offenders are released on bail while cases never reach their logical conclusion with the conviction rate being very low, an activist opined.
Comment here