PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Ramnagar
Taking a serious note of the ghastly wildlife crime in Shyampur under Haridwar forest division, Corbett Tiger Reserve has sounded high alert. Explaining the move, the CTR officials said that they fear that members of the wildlife trafficking gangs might now attempt to enter CTR who were previously active in Garhwal.
The CTR director, Saket Badola termed the incident unfortunate and said that intensive checking operations have been launched across the forest area under CTR’s jurisdiction following the Shyampur incident. “All forest check posts have been put on the alert mode and surveillance inside the forests has been tightened. The leaves of all DFOs and SDOs of the forest department have been cancelled and officials have been instructed to conduct strict checking and patrolling in their respective areas. The Corbett SOG team has also been alerted in connection with the Shyampur case,” he added.
Sharing further details, he said that sniffer dogs from Corbett are being sent to the Shyampur incident site to assist in the investigation. “Search operations are also underway in the houses of Van Gujjars and nearby forest settlements,” Badola said.
The Forest officials suspect involvement of an organised wildlife smuggling network in tiger body part trafficking trade.
