Gun-toting wildlife offenders and miscreants armed with explosives are giving sleepless nights to the Forest Department, which has come under fire following the death of a pregnant wild elephant in Palakkad.
The statewide perambulation along the forest fringes held a few days after the incident yielded 13 country-made guns and two vehicles. Five cases were registered and 20 persons were arrested.
The department had booked cases against a few persons in Punalur the other day after it was confirmed that a wild elephant had died in the area after chowing on fruits laden with explosives.
The death of the pregnant wild elephant had invited countrywide attention and several celebrities took to social media condemning the incident.
Media attention
The unprecedented scale of media coverage and public response to the incident had caught the department off guard. However, the arrest of persons a few days after the incident came as a relief for the department.
“The wide use of guns, mostly country-made ones, as confirmed during the perambulation, and the misuse of explosives are a matter of concern,” conceded Surendrakumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala.
“We suspect that miscreants involved in wildlife crimes are sourcing explosives from traders and other sources,” he said.
Scrutiny of licences
The Forest Department plans to write to the Director General of Police and other departments to scrutinise the licences issued for the sale and handling of explosives and illegal making of guns.
Steps need to be taken to streamline the licensing, sales and handling of explosives and guns failing which more wildlife would be killed, Mr. Surendrakumar said.
Perambulation along the forest fringes will be made a regular affair and part of the wildlife protection measures. Each forest area will be covered at least once in a fortnight. The Chief Wildlife Warden will personally choose the areas for perambulation and fix the dates for operations to ensure the secrecy of the operations, he said.
