Wildlife conservationists have cautioned about a possible spike in poaching during the COVID-19 lockdown period even as a few such cases have been reported from Kerala during the fortnight.
Conservationist K. Ullas Karanth notes that there has been a surge in poaching in some of the wildlife habitats in the Western Ghats.
“As the governments get busy with the protecting human lives and human priorities and all legitimate economic activities being shut down, people may turn to poaching. Encroachments can also go up. Its a global trend,” Mr. Karanth told The Hindu.
When there is a fall in patrolling and enforcement activities, all those factors that have been suppressed by enforcement can spring up, he says.
Poachers held
Forest officials in Kozhikode arrested five persons last week while attempting to sneak into the Puthupady forest area. They also seized dried meat of wild boar weighing 5 kg. The arrested were released on bail by court following instructions not to imprison them in the wake of COVID-19 spread, says M. Rajeevan, Divisional Forest Officer, Kozhikode.
In a separate incident, the forest officials seized meat of wild fowl and some weapons for hunting from the Karuvarakkundu forest, which comes under the Silent Valley forest range, last week. Though none could be arrested, the suspects have been identified, says B. N. Anjan Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Palakkad.
Terming the cases as stray incidents, Surendra Kumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala, says field reports indicate that there has not been any sudden surge in poaching activities in the forest areas.
The mobility of the front-line forest staff has not been affected by the lockdown as the protection of forest and wildlife has been declared as an essential service by the State and the Central governments, Mr. Surendra Kumar said.