THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Vivek Deshpande
Nagpur, Sunday April 29, 2012
Expressing concern over the death of a tiger and trapping of another by poachers’ snares, activists have raised several questions over neglect of basic standard operating procedures (SOPs) and non-use of available resources like metal detectors.

Kishore Rithe, Member of State Wildlife Board, in a letter to Principal Secretary (Forest) Pravin Pardeshi has said: “The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) had donated metal detectors to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). I request you to initiate an inquiry into where these detectors were kept and what was the mechanism in place to use the detectors in patrolling.”

Rithe further says: “If the inquiry reveals that the detectors were either not used or were not useful as per the opinion of staff, it must be found out whether it was informed to the donor that they are of no use. This is simply ignoring the seriousness, efforts and sentiments of donor agencies and individuals by government system,” he said.

Nitin Desai of Wildlife Protection Society of India and a wildlife crime expert says, “It is possible to detect the traps even without using metal detectors. Poachers normally block all tracks leading to the spot they fix the snares except those on which they fix the snares. 

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