BHUBANESWAR: Cow smuggling through the forests of
Baisipali wildlife sanctuary in Mahanadi wildlife division continues unabated, with wildlife personnel arresting five more persons on Saturday night.
Five days ago, three smugglers were arrested in the Bankajhari area of the sanctuary with 14 cows. The suspected smugglers were reportedly guided through the forest by poachers. "They were caught in the core area. Nobody is allowed inside the core area except authorized forest personnel," said divisional forest officer Anshu Pragyan Das.
The five arrested on Saturday were identified as Nabakishor Behera, Bidyadhar Mohanty, Nanda Lenka, Satosh Mati and Arup Barad. They were booked under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Three smugglers - Trinath Nayak, Krushna Behera and Kanhei Pradhan - were arrested in the earlier case.
Forest personnel said the traffickers used the forest route to reach the point where a truck is parked. The cows are loaded and transported to Kolkata.
An officer said the presence of livestock in the core area of a sanctuary could lead to the spread of diseases from them to the wild animals. In some sanctuaries, there are demarcated areas for the grazing of livestock to reduce biotic pressure. "We take care to reduce the biotic pressure by keeping the cows and other livestock away from core area. The forest personnel also launch vaccination drive to check diseases from being transmitted," a senior officer said.