Forest guards told to shoot poachers
Order comes after killing of two tigers
Mumbai: Taking a strong stand against the recent brutal killing of two tigers and the death of three leopards, state forest minister Patangrao Kadam has issued shoot-at-sight orders to forest guards if they find poachers encroaching in the state's four tiger reserves.
Maharashtra has four major tiger reserves: Melghat Tiger Reserve, Amravati district; Pench in Nagpur; Tadoba-Andhari, Chandrapur and Sahayadri, Sangli, where, Kadam said, over 500 forest guards will be recruited to fight poaching.
Kadam said, "No case will be registered against the forest guards if they catch poachers in the act and shoot them. They will be provided with state-of-the-art arms as well as vehicles."
The minister regretted that four days back, the body of a tiger was found chopped into 11 pieces with its head and paws missing in the Tadoba tiger reserve.
Also, forest staff recently found charred bodies of three leopards, a male, female and cub, a wild boar and mongoose in Surewani area adjoining Pench tiger reserve buffer zone and a broken electric wire lying on the ground. The Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Corporation has denied that the animals could have been electrocuted due to its shoddy work.
Various initiatives
More importantly, the minister's order comes at a crucial time when the state has already taken up various initiatives like relocating villages, recruiting and training staff for the Special Tiger Protection Force under the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
"Kadam's order gives legal protection to the staff to shoot poachers found in the core tiger reserves," says Kishor Rithe, founder of Satpuda Foundation, who has been working in various organisations for tiger protection. Praising the minister's decision, he said it would be helpful in an overall package of advance tiger protection strategy.
Refuting that this order could be misused, he explained that the "NTCA is working with the states to ensure that all core areas of tiger reserves are made inviolate (human habitation free). If the forest staff finds anyone in these core areas, they would only be poachers with the intention to poach." The order would definitely be a deterrent, he said.
Recent intelligence reports revealed that Madhya Pradesh-based poachers had received an order to kill tigers in Maharashtra and had already received an advance payment of Rs4 million.
