BENGALURU: Once the fiefdom of Veerappan, the notorious elephant and sandalwood poacher, a few ranges in Cauvery and Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife sanctuaries have become an easy target for meat poachers with recent camera traps and arrest of poachers revealing evidence of rampant killing of scheduled protected species. Forest officials said that poachers have been targeting animals like sambar, spotted deer and wild boar for their meat in remote and non-patrolled areas.
On Wednesday, another spotted deer was killed in Pacchedoddi forest area of Hanur Buffer Range. A
villager Nataraj (65) was held and remanded to judicial custody by the JMFC court, Kollegal.
Apart from this, the shocking images from the camera trap on June 30 show how hunters had killed two deer in Hanur range and were transporting it. In another camera trap, a poacher can be seen with a gun, traversing the protected area without fear. A few weeks back, images were captured of a deer that was
rescued from a snare in Hanur range.
Range forest officers in these two sanctuaries said, “We are maintaining the utmost vigil but some
incidents have happened. Not all areas can be covered by the anti-poaching camps. Local villagers and poachers have been caught hunting and killing chital and sambar as they are familiar with the forest area. With poachers keeping a track of the APC movement, it has become difficult for the officials to monitor
such illegal activities.”
Camera traps
To check the increasing poaching activities, the forest department has deployed camera traps in those routes where the staff are unable to patrol. Hanur RFO Lokesh said, “We have 10 anti-poaching camps with four employees per camp. Camera trapping was done in specific spots and we have arrested 16 people who have been involved in poaching.”Jaywardane, RFO, Hanur Buffer Range, said, “Usually, traps and snares are kept by people in their agricultural lands and with informers being active on the movement of animals, the animals are easily killed.
CAG report
Local activists say that most ranges in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary have been witnessing incidents at regular intervals every month which have been captured by the department’s cameras in the Hanur range. Wildlife activist Santhosh said, “Poaching and other forest offences are rampant across Cauvery Wildlife and MM Hills sanctuaries and many incidents have been camera-trapped. But Hanur takes the cake. It is surprising that in the recent report submitted by CAG on protected areas status, it was claimed that no poaching incidents have occurred in CWS, said activist Shankar of Sahyadri Shrunga. He added, “However this is contrary to the ground reality where we see at least one case every few weeks. This shows that forest officials are trying to withhold data.”