Telangana forest dept launches anti poaching drive

Under the “Catch the Trap” intensive drive, the Telangana department staff would scan areas in their limits with a special focus on unearthing traps laid for killing or hunting wild animals

Hyderabad: The Telangana forest department has launched a special anti poaching drive across the State to curb killing and hunting of wild animals, create awareness among people, besides studying the poaching patterns and initiating remedial measures accordingly.

Under the “Catch the Trap” intensive drive, the department staff would scan areas in their limits with a special focus on unearthing traps laid for killing or hunting wild animals. Generally, poachers and hunters kill wild animals for trade and consumption.

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It is also done in the guise of preventing crop loss in villages bordering forest areas.

Offenders use different materials, including snares, traps, nets, live wire, poison, explosives etc and it is a big challenge for the staff to scan the entire area in their limits.

Creating awareness among farmers and people in forest-bordering areas is another task for the staff. Most of them tend to hunt in retaliation for the loss of livestock due to wild carnivore attack and crop loss.

The department has now launched a multi-pronged intensive drive to curb all these activities. This apart, poaching patterns and type of materials used would be studied, besides mapping vulnerable areas and initiating remedial measures accordingly, Chief Wildlife Warden Mohan Chandra Pargain said.

During the drive, the staff would also be trained on specific issues, especially maintaining records, seized materials custody etc. This apart, instructions have been issued to local officials to transport all the materials seized in their limits to avoid any scope for recirculation of such materials, he said.

The department is also coordinating with the electricity department to book cases against offenders for laying live wires traps. Generally, during this season cases would be more as small waterholes dry up and animals tend to move towards bigger water bodies and offenders lay traps at such locations. The idea was to conduct the drive at least till summer season, added another official.