CHANDRAPUR: Intrusion of poachers inside the core zone of
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) has alarmed the park managers.
Forest guards patrolling the core forest recovered wire snares laid in
Arjuni beat in
Tadoba range of the park on Wednesday. Officials claimed that the snares were meant for poaching of hares, but experts have argued that those traps pose equal threat to larger animals too.
Sources informed that three forest guards patrolling in Arjuni beat came across the wire snares laid on the game trail. They informed the higher-ups and removed the traps. Deputy director, TATR (core),
Kishor Mankar, claimed investigations revealed that some outsider labourers have arrived in Arjuni village at the outskirts of the core boundary. Eight labourers, who had come to dig well in a farm, were detained for questioning. However, they were later let off as nothing incriminating was found against them.
Mankar claimed that the snares seized from Arjuni forest were meant for trapping rabbits. Experts, however, claimed that the snares found in the core forest appear big and strong enough to trap large animals like spotted deer and sambhar and even larger animals, hence the instance should not be taken lightly.
TATR authorities had provided jungle commando training in December 2017 to its staffers to deal with challenges of wildlife poaching and felling in the park. The move appears to have paid off and the staffers have successfully discovered the snares, but stiff challenge of capturing the poachers lies ahead.
Representative image
