UP jungles a killing field of big cats

Times of India , Thursday, October 12, 2006
Correspondent : Manjari Mishra
SURAT: Nine per day and 60 in a week, these figures are not the target plan of a manufacturing LUCKNOW: With over ten tigers and leopards dying of unnatural causes during the past one year, survival has become difficult for big cats in the Dudhwa/Katarniaghat Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh.

And even as the forest department underplays incidents of poaching and accidental deaths, local villagers in Kheri led by the Van Gram Adhikar Manch (VGAM) agitating against the deaths, have volunteered to keep a vigil in the area.

In the most recent incident, VGAM activist Santosh Yadav nabbed a poacher Varmal at Bichhia railway station while he was trying to smuggle a fresh tiger skin into a train on October 6.

VGAM founder Jitendra Chaturvedi said, "The poaching incident of October 6 was particularly sad." The tiger was regularly spotted by villagers between Girijapur petrol pump and Bhavanipur. Villagers became vigilant when they did not see the tiger for four days. On the fifth day, Yadav caught hold of Varmal trying to smuggle a tiger skin soaked in 'til' oil at the station. Varmal later confessed to the killing.

The forest guard on duty at the Bichhia railway station, Parikramadin Chaurasia, was missing on October 6, alleged Yadav.

What was even more serious was the confession of Varmal who said he had been poaching in Dudhwa for a long time and the tigers genitals were on their way to Dubai for a virility concoction.

"The number of casualties have assumed shocking proportions," said Chaturvedi. He said between June 2005 and June 2006, 10 tigers and leopards had died of unnatural causes in Katarnia Ghat sanctuary alone. This figure, he emphasised, did not include other parts of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

Chaturvedi said local forest officials had been trying to suppress the incidents. "Some of the reasons they give are actually bizarre," he pointed out.

For instance, "in June 2005 the body of a tiger was found near the central farm in Katarniaghat. While everyone could sense that it was a poacher's job, the official version was the tiger had died due to a porcupine needle having got stuck in his mouth," he said.

Raghubir Varma, a VGAM activist said forest officials were involved in poaching activities. He said villagers had spotted strangers with huge packets near the bend of river Gerua in the Bhavanipur range.

 
SOURCE : Times of India, Thursday, October 12, 2006
 


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