By Our Staff Reporter
Srinagar, 25 Sep: A forest department team has arrested two wildlife poachers in Gadoli under Nagdev Range of Garhwal Forest Division while they were cooking hunted deer’s meat. In addition, 5 kg of deer meat was also recovered from the refrigerator of the house. Two poachers however are stated to be absconding. The Forest officials claim that the search for them is on.
It is learnt that, on the basis of information received, a forest department team reached the spot and recovered five kg of meat from the fridge in the house of an accused. Along with this, the team has also found hooves and skin of the Himalayan Goral which had been poached by the poachers. The team has seized the meat, hooves and skin and sent the sample to Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, for scientific examination.
It may be recalled that Gadoli is an estate along the Srinagar Road in Pauri. The Forest department had received a tip about hunting of a Himalayan Goral (a goat type antelope found commonly in the hills of Uttarakhand). A team of forest department under the leadership of Forest Area Officer, Nagdev Range, Pauri, Dinesh Chandra Nautiyal reached the spot. The team recovered five kg of deer meat from the fridge in the house of an accused. Along with this, hooves and skin were also recovered. Nautiyal confirmed that the team has recovered meat from the fridge in the house of Vijay Danosi, one of the accused in the case. Upon further search, four hooves and skin of the antelope were also recovered from the house. While the team arrested the accused Sajid Khan alias Rajiv, resident of Gadoli, and Tula Bahadur, a resident of Nepali origin, Vijay Danosi, resident of Gadoli, and Pramod Bhandari, resident of Sainikhal are reported to absconding. Nautiyal shared that a case has been registered against the four accused under the Wildlife Protection Act. He claimed that both the absconding accused will be arrested soon.
It may be worth reminding here that poaching in the hills is very common and most cases of poaching of deer and other wildlife go unreported. Some wildlife experts also claim that large scale poaching in the hills is one of the major reasons why leopards and other predators are forced to wander around the villages and other human habitations in search of domestic animals. The experts also do not rule out involvement of some forest officials in poaching or in turning a blind eye to poaching activities in the hills.
