Thursday, 21 February 2013

Officials target poaching by forest staff kin

MUMBAI: The forest officials at Sanjay Gandhi National Park are set to kick off a sensitization programme that will help stop poaching by staffers' kin. This initative comes on the back of the involvement of two forest guards' sons in a leopard poaching case that came to light on Monday., has left the forest officials at Sanjay Gandhi National Park with the need to sensitize their staffers' kin as well toward poaching.

Families of several forest officials live on the premises and have the best access to the forest, which makes the crime easier to commit. The need is to make their kin more sensitive to avoid such instances, officials say.

A senior forest official said that increasing surveillance is only one half of the partly the solution to the problem of poaching. It is also the families of as well as staffers who need to be made aware not just of the need to preserve wildlife but also of the seriousness of the crime and the punishment that which follows it.

"This case should serve as an example. Most staffers of those who work in the forest are usually well-aware of their responsibilities,and role but their families should also be involved or made aware of in the effort to preserve wildlife," he said. Officials said there are many staffers who live with their families in quarters within the park. Another official said that even though this was a rare case, "the effort of speaking to families should start now It can be more of an awareness measure to avoid involvement of kin in wildlife crimes". Officials also said families should be made aware of the penalties that come along with poaching to further discourage them.

Krishna Tiwari from City Forest Initiative said the idea to speak to families is a novel one and may make a difference when it is finally implemented.

The need to sensitize has arisen after the crime branch have arrested four persons in connection to leopard poaching. They include Alok Khaire (27), Prashant Patel (25), Tushar Bagwe (29) and Abhishek Rane (26). They were arrested on Monday while trying to sell a leopard skin for Rs 4 lakh.

The police said they had formed several teams and were still looking for the gang leader, Pankaj, Patel's elder brother.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Officials-target-poaching-by-forest-staff-kin/articleshow/18602261.cms

Man arrested trying to sell leopard skin

A 48-year-old man was arrested in Kurla (West) Tuesday night for allegedly attempting to sell a leopard skin. He was carrying the skin worth Rs 1.5 lakh in a haversack, police said.

The accused, booked under Wildlife (Protection) Act, has allegedly confessed to acquiring the skin from a relative in Pune. Forest officials suspect the leopard to be from the forest in Sahyadri Hills.

Police said Bhagwan Sanas was seen loitering suspiciously around GSK Lodge on LBS Marg at 9 pm Tuesday. When he did not answer questions regarding his presence confidently, patrolling police demanded to check his haversack and found the skin.

Sanas was immediately arrested and taken to Kurla police station. An examination at Sanjay Gandhi National Park confirmed the 89-centimetre-long skin belonged to a leopard.

Sanas is a contract labourer with Larsen and Toubro and lives in Kurla. He told police he acquired the skin a few days ago at his native Karanji village in Pune district.

"It appears the leopard was skinned after it was killed. I do not think it was killed in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Sanas said the leopard is from the Sahyadri Hills near his village. We have charged him with killing an endangered species," said DCP (zone V) Dhananjay Kulkarni.

Sanas has been booked under sections 9 (prohibition of hunting), 39 (confiscation) and 51 (penalties imposed by the forest department) of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and remanded in police custody till February 23.

"We arrested him after a tip-off. He has not yet disclosed who he was trying to sell the skin to," Kulkarni said.

The arrest comes two days after four youth were held by the crime branch trying to sell a leopard skin worth Rs 4 lakh. Two of the youths are sons of forest officials and stay in quarters inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/man-arrested-trying-to-sell-leopard-skin/1077288/0

3 smugglers held, 5 tiger skins recovered

LUCKNOW: The network of wildlife poachers seems to have penetrated into the city and is trying to reach the international market via Nepal. The special operations group and district police caught a murder accused and two more smugglers in possession of five tiger hides from Chinhat area on Wednesday. The police also recovered a porcupine from the smugglers.

The trio had got hold of the hides from a Maharashtra-based poacher and was in the middle of finding a prospective buyer, when the police intercepted them. The three smugglers have been identified as Vishal alias Sahil-the murder accused and Rajmal and Rajan, both residents of Barabanki. A resident of Dewa Road, Vishal had been accused of a murder that took place at Matiyari in 2007.

"The trio was in possession of five tiger hides and porcupine (an endangered species), when they were held by the police. We are trying to find out who was interested in dealing with the trio and suspect that the hides were to be smuggled to international market via Nepal," said J Ravinder Goud, senior superintendent of police, Lucknow.

According the police, the trio had bought the tiger hides from a man identified as Vijay. The trio had been in the business of wildlife smuggling and trafficking for past several years and had developed contacts across several states in the country. From preliminary investigations, it was found that the recovered hides have been smuggled from Maharashtra's Aurangabad district to the city. "The cost price of a single hide is Rs 50,000, while the selling price ranges between Rs 4 and 5 lakh," told Brijlal Verma, the sub-inspector of the team that nabbed the trio from a shanty located off Faizabad Road.

The police have pressed various charges under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 against the trio and have sent them to jail. "We had information of some groups, which were active in smuggling of endangered animals, skins, hides, bones, body parts etc in the city. Following continuous surveillance and help of informers, a notorious group had been held," said a police official.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/3-smugglers-held-5-tiger-skins-recovered/articleshow/18602036.cms

Elephants go on rampage, one killed, 7 houses damaged

PTI
DIPHU (Assam): A man was trampled to death and seven houses were damaged by two wild elephants in Assam's Karbi Anglong district.

Two wild elephants went on a rampage in Borbilgaon under Howraghat police station of the district and killed a man besides damaging seven houses and uprooting several trees, officials said today.

Panic prevails in the area as the elephants were still roaming around.

Forest department personnel went to the village and efforts were on to send back the pachyderms to the nearby forest.

The dead man has been identified as Kheru Das.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/Elephants-go-on-rampage-one-killed-7-houses-damaged/articleshow/18611705.cms

Crowded nesting stands prove dear for winged visitors

RAJULAPUDI SRINIVAS
A juvenile pelican died as it got stuck in the iron stand arranged for nesting in
Kolleru Lake at Atapaka Bird Sanctuary in Krishna district. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
A few pelican chicks died and eggs were damaged when they fell from iron stands arranged in Kolleru Lake at Atapaka Bird Sanctuary due to overcrowding of the winged visitors.

About 1,500 chicks, aged between 30 and 60 days, were found on the stands recently.

“The water level in the lake is good. This year the number of birds visiting the sanctuary is high when compared to previous years. A few chicks died and eggs were damaged when they fell from the overcrowded stands,” said the Forest Department officials.

Speaking to The Hindu, Kaikalur Forest Range Officer (FRO) V. Ratna Kumar said the Kolleru Wildlife Management officials arranged iron stands for facilitating the birds for nesting.

Atapaka Bird Sanctuary Deputy FRO V. Satyanandam said as there was no protection on the edges of the stands a few chicks and eggs slipped from the stands.

“We also observed a few chicks dying when they got stuck in the mesh arranged on the stands,” he said.

In addition to 60 iron stands, they erected 40 more stands at different places for the birds to rest.

Metal rods were arranged on the borders of the new stands to protect the chicks and the eggs, he said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vijayawada/crowded-nesting-stands-prove-dear-for-winged-visitors/article4431436.ece