Sloth bear, 4 dogs electrocuted near Navegaon

The Times of India , Friday, June 28, 2013
Correspondent : Vijay Pinjarkar
NAGPUR: Even as poaching of tigers in the forest areas of Vidarbha has cast a shadow on protection measures in territorial forests, a sloth bear was poached by unidentified persons near DhabePaoni under Gondia division.

Gondia deputy conservator of forests (DyCF) S V Ramarao confirmed that the bear was electrocuted after it came in contact with live wires attached to an 11 kV line passing through the forest. This method of poaching is generally employed to kill herbivores.

"Four domestic dogs were also killed after coming in contact with the live wire. The incident came to light around 5pm on Thursday. Hunt for the accused have been launched," said Ramarao, who was in Nagpur to attend divisional tiger cell meeting, which discussed the electrocution issue.

In December last year, three leopards died due to electrocution outside Nagzira in Gondia range. The incidents are occurring repeatedly. Despite a storm created over poaching of wild animals due to electrocution, the territorial staff seems to be doing nothing to stop such incidents.

Gondia territorial area being adjoining to Navegaon National Park and Nagzira and New Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary is equally rich in wildlife.

The area where the deaths were reported is hardly 3-4 km from Navegaon Wildlife Sanctuary and is also close to Navegaon National Park. The spot where the trap was laid is hardly 200 metres from the Dhabe Paoni-Chichgad road. Like recent tiger deaths in the Nagpur division which went unnoticed for days together by the field staff, the sloth bear poaching too was reported by the staff very late.

"This can be gauged from the fact that only skeleton of the bear remained while its hair was scattered nearby. We suspect the bear must have been killed on Friday," forest officials said.

Wildlife activists in Gondia have strongly condemned the incident. "We are losing tigers and leopards to organized poachers, while the prey base is being targeted by locals. Wildlife protection seems to be last priority in forest outside PAs," said Rupesh Nimbarte of NGO Hirwal.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Sloth-bear-4-dogs-electrocuted-near-Navegaon/articleshow/20806024.cms
 


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