The arrest of four poachers hailing from Orissa in the Palar range on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border and one from Bandipur National Park recently has put the Forest Department and wildlife activists on alert. Snare traps, which the poachers planned to lay in the dense jungle to trap the big cats, were seized from them.
The threat against wildlife has increased in recent years as Karnataka has a population of about 300 tigers, of which 200 are in Bandipur and Nagarhole national parks alone. There are more than 38 tigers in Biligiri Ranaganathaswamy Wildlife Sanctuary apart from 4,000 elephants, chital, sambhars, chousinghas, gaurs, wild pigs, leopards and dhole in a 1,500 sqkm area.
The Male Mahadeshwara forest range across the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border was brought under the Cauvery Wild Life Sanctuary and it has since become a target for poachers as all the four assailants were arrested from Palar.
Four other poachers managed to escape, which poses a major challenge to the forest departments in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
According to sources, the four Shobhapura villagers, from Orissa, had entered and surveyed M M Hills forest range after which they had laid a series of snares in Nale Gadde, 30 metres from the banks of the Cauvery near Palar. Forest Department officials are in touch with officials of the wildlife crime control bureau records, to know the history of some of the arrested people and the cases against them in other States.
The accused had also dug a small pit, kept food and covered it with foliage to trap animals. Forest officials, acting on a tip, seized salt and turmeric powder from the poachers. These items would be used to preserve the skin of the animals after poaching. More....