Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Hunt for elephant killers intensifies

By V.S. Palaniappan

Coimbatore Aug. 7. The Forest Department has intensified its hunt for a gang involved in the killing of two tuskers in Sirumugai range near Mettuppalayam last week.

The Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, T. Sekar, told The Hindu that the anti-poaching camps in the eastern slope of the Nilgiris biosphere had been adequately strengthened.

The field staff was equipped with wireless sets and arms. For the anti-poaching camp at Uliyur, which was about 4 km away from the spot where the elephants were killed, the Forest Department had already availed itself of the services of the Special Task Force (STF).

Mr. Sekar pointed out that there was a possibility of the tusks and weapons still remaining in the jungle. The offenders used to wait for the easing of the vigil by the forest personnel or till they found a prospective buyer for the tusks. They never moved out of the jungles immediately.

While the officials from Coimbatore, led by the Divisional Forest Officer, P. Durairasu, were on the task of combing the jungles, the personnel of the flying and protection squad were on the trail of the poachers from Kerala and Karnataka with the help of the neighbouring State Forest departments and STF personnel.

The Coimbatore circle had been entrusted with the task of combing three elephant reserves, spread over 1,660 sq km in Coimbatore and 770 sq km in the Nilgiris for protecting 1800 elephants.

The circle had as many as 44 anti-poaching camps (six in Nilgiris North, 16 in Mudumalai bordering Kerala-Karnataka, four in Coimbatore division and 18 in Pollachi-Anaimalai belt) strategically located and most of them were functioning since mid-1999.

The conservator claimed that the Coimbatore division had remained poaching free due to the number of well-equipped camps and this was the first incident.

As far Nilgiris district was concerned, only three incidents were reported in the last three years. In all the incidents, the offenders had been nabbed and tusks and weapons recovered, he said.

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