Night patrolling will be stepped at the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve to tighten protection as a fallout of the recent tiger poaching case.
A tiger was poached on August 26. The authorities nabbed all the five accused within 10 days of the crime being reported.
Nagarahole Tiger Reserve Director Mahesh Kumar said they have analysed the situation and identified a few deficiencies in protection duties that will be addressed.
Apart from regular patrolling by the Special Tiger Force and the anti-poaching camp personnel, the Forest Department now proposes to introduce a dedicated squad for night patrolling. This will bridge the gap in the protection duties all of which will shore up forest protection and also deter potential miscreants and poachers, the official said.
There are 54 anti-poaching camps in Nagarahole and each of the camps is manned by four persons. This was considered sufficient. But a dedicated night patrolling squad will add more teeth to protection duty, said Mr. Kumar. He said there was a 25% vacancy in the field staff and the government will be informed about the imperatives of filling up the vacant posts at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the Nagarahole Forest Department staff have won plaudits from wildlife conservationists and the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for cracking the tiger-poaching case within a few days.
