Dehradun:
With more than half a dozen tigers killed in less than two weeks in the Corbett National Park, there is at last some good news. In a major breakthrough, three poachers were caught with equipment from within the reserve in a joint operation by the Uttarakhand Forest Department and the Special Task Force (STF). The poachers were caught during a search exercise.
However, five of this eight-member group were able to get away.
"We conducted a search operation after reports that a tiger has been killed in the Bijrani range. Three people - Ramesh Bagdi, Giniya Bagdi and Tarachand Bagdi - have been arrested. They belong to Panchkular in Haryana," said SS Sharma, the Chief Wildlife Warden.
Mr Sharma said that these poachers were living in a rented room. Residents of Chandigarh, they all belong to the Bagdi group, a gang known for its skill in wildlife poaching.
"We recovered a few traps and steel chains from them. They were living in the forest for the past 4-5 days. The Forest Department has intensified search and combing operations," he added.
The 2012 tiger census reported that the park has 214 tigers. But there were also reports of sudden spurt in the poaching rate, and the department had to face flak because of its failure to stop it. So, they sounded a red alert, and heightened vigil across all the tiger reserves in the state.
Heaving a sign of relief, the state Forest Department is now interrogating them to know about their network so that more such poachers can be nabbed and tigers be saved.