DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Corbett Tiger Reserve administration has identified five alleged poachers and arrested three after an alert was issued by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau last month.
Rahul, director of the CTR said, "The three arrested persons are locals who entered the forest. They are being questioned about the broken cameras".
The officials of the CTR also added that measures like e-surveillance, extensive patrolling and others are in place to check anti-wildlife activities.
However, questions were raised after two camera traps from Kalagarh range of the reserve were found to be broken by forest staff this week. The investigation revealed that two cameras were broken by local villagers who entered the park from Uttar Pradesh border.
These camera traps which include still cameras and video cameras were set up in March this year to keep surveillance inside the reserve.
Last month, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau issued an alert asking the state government to increase surveillance after members of the notorious Bawaria gang were missing from their original spots in Haryana and Punjab.
The gang is infamous for anti-wildlife activities including poaching wild animals such as tigers, elephants and leopards.
In February 2017, shoot-at-sight orders were issued within the reserve after the movement of suspected poachers was reported near the southern boundary of the park.
In the year 2018, in a bid to add more teeth to its surveillance capabilities and collect comprehensive ground information on a real-time basis, the CTR administration initiated an intranet project which has have facilities for live-streaming of footage from cameras placed in sensitive points around the reserve.
According to 2018 census conducted by National Tiger Conservation Authority, total 442 adult tigers are in Uttarakhand out of which 259 are in the CTR.