The Hindu : Front Page : For the lesser gods

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 27, 2006

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For the lesser gods

D. Radhakrishnan

ON ALERT: A member of an anti-poaching squad doing rounds at the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, near Udhagamandalam.

Udhagamandalam: With the Forest Department going all out to stamp out poaching in the sanctuaries and other forest areas in the district, the revival of the periodical tripartite meetings of the forest officials of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have given a boost to the efforts.

The Nilgiris Wildlife Warden, Rakesh Kumar Dogra, told The Hindu that such meetings helped understand problems posed by poachers in the protected areas of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Tamil Nadu, the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Kerala and the Bandipur and Nagerhole National Parks in Karnataka.

The first meeting was held at Mudumalai during May this year. The next meeting would be held at Muthanga in Wayanad on August 11.

Though the officials of the three States generally shared information on inter-State border patrolling and exchanged information on habitual wildlife offenders and traders in ivory and skins of wild animals. They helped in imparting specialised training to the field staff in patrolling, particularly without flashlights in elephant habitats.

The meetings made it possible to organise massive combing operations without any difficulty.

Mr. Dogra added that the officials of the three States were keen on preventing the death of wild animals on highways.

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