BHUBANESWAR: Use of explosive materials to hunt tiger's prey wild boar has again come to haunt the authorities of Mahanadi wildlife division in Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
This came to the fore on Saturday with wildlife field personnel arresting three poachers at Atalsara in Boudh district on Saturday with sharp weapons and dynamite, an explosive material that is blended with the dough and thrown in forest to hunt wild boar. It takes the shape of a 'chocolate bomb', which explodes when the boars eat, killing it instantly. The arrested poachers are Prafula Chanda, AjitDalabehera and KarafullaDalabehera.
In June, 2015 two poachers were arrested for killing a wild board in similar fashion. The boar meat weighed four kg was seized. The legs of the boar were separated. The duo was booked under wildlife protection Act, 1972 for killing a scheduled species.
"On a tip off, the patrolling team swooped down on the poachers. They had entered the core area with the explosive material, which was seized. Since, we have intensified collection of intelligence inputs involving villagers, the poachers were apprehended before harming the animal," said divisional forest officer (Mahanadi division) AnshuPragyan Das.
To prevent prey animals from straying into human habitation zone, which makes them vulnerable to poaching, we are not laying salt licks there. "Saltlicks are laid in some places to keep the animals hydrated. But, we are not spreading it near human habitation as they are likely to be killed," she added.
The senior wildlife officer said from the recent seizure they were sure that dynamite was mixed with the dough to kill the animals. "We were not sure about the kind of explosive the poachers were using to make 'chocolate bomb'. We were under the impression that they were using cracker powder," she said.
Last week, the patrolling team arrested a person at Narasinghpur for entering buffer area of Mahanadi gorge during night. Two weeks ago, the field staffs arrested two persons of Baisipalli deliberately causing inferno on the foothill.
"During the summer, inspection at water bodies and saltlicks will continue as poachers keep an eye on those areas to hunt animals," she said.
The officials said instances of dynamite being used for fishing have also come to the light.
