Though poaching bids have considerably come down of late as the CTR administration has maintained, the poachers always prefer to step up their anti-wildlife activities in this highly guarded sanctuary and elsewhere taking the advantage of the poor weather conditions in the monsoon season.

Local tribal communities like the Kanjar always pose a potential threat to wildlife in the terai-bhawar regions of Uttarakhand. These communities have become a rather reliable tool in hands of poachers having nexus with the international wildlife traffickers.

“Possibility of poaching or any other kind of anti-wildlife activity always remains high during this season. Keeping in view these concerns we have to launch Operation Monsoon during the monsoon season, repositioning our entire patrolling network,” said UC Tiwari, park warden, CTR, speaking to The Pioneer. He further informed that apart from mobilising our existing manpower, they will deploy additional forces to strengthen the patrolling network during the rainy season.

Apart from intensifying vigilance level in different zones of the park, all the buffer zones are also being scanned to ensure that there is no human activity in these areas. To maximize vigil on suspects in outer regions, the CTR would also conduct night patrolling in such locations.

To assist its manpower on the ground the CTR would also use high-tech gadgets. There is a plan to install state-of-the-art cameras at important locations in the park to scan movements, Tiwari further said.

“The entire operation would be global positioning system-based. As we have been using this technology for the past few years, this time, too, it would be used to ensure effective patrolling,” he said.

The Operation Monsoon would continue till September-end, when the season is over. Dhikala zone, Bijrani zone, Sonanadi zone and Jhirna zone are some of the most visited tourist hotspots in CTR. Given high presence of wildlife in these pockets they remain under high vigil.