Elephant poaching on rise? PCCF says no

Bengaluru: The increasing number of arrests of poachers and seizure of elephant tusks being made in the city in the last few weeks indicate a spurt in poaching incidents in the forest reserves along the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

But Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Vinay Luthra denied that there has been a sudden rise in the number of elephant poaching cases, while claiming that the recent arrests were the result of coordinated efforts between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu forest officials.

Forest officials said that most of the poachers are from tribes living near the reserves around Sathyamangalam and other areas bordering Tamil Nadu. They kill the elephants, extract tusks and come to Bengaluru to sell the booty, which get lakhs of rupees in the illegal market. In the last one month, the city police have reported two such incidents, arrested three poachers and seized five elephant tusks, which are worth nearly a crore of rupees.

Pachaiappan (45) was caught red-handed by the RMC Yard police while he was trying to sell three elephant tusks weighing 8.65 kg worth around Rs 45 lakh. He is from Sathyamangala taluk in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, which is close to areas surrounding the National Forest Reserve.

Two other poachers were arrested by the CK Achchukattu police while they were trying to sell two elephant tusks weighing 9.5 kg on June 29. The accused – Shivaraju (25) and Shivaswamy (28) – are from Tamil Nadu.

Sources said that several poaching cases go unreported. “Though the central government allocates large amounts of funds for wildlife protection, the forest authorities are not doing enough to stop the killing of wild animals,” they said.

Mr Luthra told Deccan Chronicle: “We seized 18 guns and arrested a few men from border areas recently. The coordinated efforts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu forest officials are leading to the arrests in the city,” he said.