Wardens on their toes after elephant killings

G Anand, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu, March 18, 2019

The discovery of two wild elephant carcasses in the buffer zone of the Silent Valley National Park in February has put wildlife wardens on their toes.
The killings have also spotlighted the threat posed by poachers who hunt wild elephants to harvest tusks and the powerful inter-State mafia that profits from the sale of ivory artefacts to wealthy collectors.
Forest Range Officer, Silent Valley, Najmal Ameen, said the carcasses were found on February 27, an estimated 400 metre from each other. One was that of a tusker and the other of a cow elephant.
Gunshot wounds
He said the animals had died of gunshot wounds and the poachers had hewn off their tusks. Wildlife enforcers have arrested two persons and recovered a country made musket from the suspects.Wildlife wardens also found the carcass of a bull elephant in the periphery of the Mannarkkad Forest Division. Sunil Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, said the kill appeared to be the handiwork of persons farming land on the fringes of the forest.
Chief Wildlife Warden, Surendra Kumar, told The Hindu that the evidence collected so far did not indicate an organised effort to poach elephants for their ivory as witnessed in Malayattoor, Vazhachal and Munnar forest divisions in 2014-15. (The killings of an estimated 18 bull elephants had resulted in an asymmetrical sex ratio in specific herds).
Surveillance stepped up
Mr. Kumar said wildlife enforcers were not taking any chances. They have stepped up surveillance and wardens were increasingly relying on technology, including hidden night vision cameras and aerial drones, to tack poachers.

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On alert, to check poaching during summer

G. Anand,  Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu,  March 15, 2016

The Forest Department has stepped up surveillance in Idukki and Wayanad districts in the wake of intelligence forecasts that hunting of tigers and leopards for their pelts and body parts could escalate in summer.

A wildlife enforcer said that there was lot of tiger movement in Tholpatti, Muthanga, Kurichiyadu, and Batheri ranges this season. Many of the predators were aged and often forayed into human habitations for easy prey, mostly tethered cattle. Certain settler farmers sometimes collaborated with poachers to remove the threat of predators from their neighbourhoods.

The predators were particularly vulnerable while frequenting dwindling wateringholes. Moreover, forest fires, both natural and manmade, funnelled wildlife through certain paths and poachers found it easy to ensnare them using mechanical traps.

Wildlife Warden (Wayanad) P. Dhanesh Kumar said 24 camp sheds had been activated inside the 332-sq km reserve to keep a guard on poachers, detect traps and prevent wildfires.

On March 13, 2015, enforcers had encountered such a trap at the Akamala station limits in Machad forest range. They found a spotted deer (Sambar) caught in the crude trap. It had been bludgeoned to death after being trapped.

Traps

In 2014, enforcers had found a ‘cable trap,’ one fashioned out of clutch cables and second-hand vehicle parts, in a private estate bordering the forest at Tholpatti.

Investigators said use of such traps to ensnare wild animals, chiefly tigers, could be widespread and the detections, so far, were just the tip of the ice-berg. Officials said that unblemished tiger and leopard pelts fetched a higher price and poachers preferred to hunt the big cats using traps rather than fire-arms.

Forensic examinations of tiger skin and parts seized in the past showed that the hunters had cured the pelts using a combination of salt and sometimes, alum. The pelts would be stretched and left to dry under the sun for weeks. The meat and bones would be salted and preserved for sale.

On February 2, 2015, enforcers had trapped five persons in the Palode range into selling them a tiger skin. The number of tiger skin seizures in the State has dwindled over the years. Investigators said one reason was that much of the illegal trade had shifted to Coorg and certain Tibetan settlements in Karnataka.

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