Special teams from the forest department are on the lookout for four persons, including two former anti-poaching watchers (APWs), for allegedly poaching a sloth bear cub and a deer.
The department seized the skins of the bear and deer and two guns they had abandoned on Monday. Sloth bear is an animal classified under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, while spotted deer is a Schedule III animal.
Assistant Conservator of Forest for Coimbatore Range (ACF) S. Prabha said that their team was involved in elephant monitoring on the Thadagam Central Beat at Valkuttai in Thudiyalur Section on Monday, when they saw four persons coming in the opposite direction.
“On seeing us they abandoned the two bags in their possession and fled the place. We tried to chase and catch them but in vain,” the ACF said. One of the bags had a deer’s skin in four pieces and the skin of a sloth bear cub. The other bag had a country-made gun, an air gun, and a metal cord.
Ms. Prabha said that the department personnel could identify the accused as two of them, Raman (35) and Lakshmanan (35), were former APWs and were dismissed from service following their alleged involvement in poaching a deer in 2009. The duo and their brother Ayyasamy (50), all from 24 Veerapandi village, have been booked twice earlier by Periyanaickenpalayam forest personnel for poaching.
The other accused has been identified as Pakki alias S. Maruthachalam (49) of Kuttaivali in China Thadagam.
The seized skins were sent to the laboratory for analysis. All four were booked under Section 21 (trespassing into forest), 9, 39 and 51 (punishment for hunting wild animals) of the Wildlife Protection Act, Section 7 and 25(i)(a) (illegal possession of weapons) of the Arms Act and sections of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act.
