Expressing concern over the death of a tiger and trapping of another by poachers snares,activists have raised several questions over neglect of basic standard operating procedures (SOPs) and non-use of available resources like metal detectors. Kishore Rithe,Member of State Wildlife Board,in a letter to Principal Secretary (Forest) Pravin Pardeshi has said: The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) had donated metal detectors to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). I request you to initiate an inquiry into where these detectors were kept and what was the mechanism in place to use the detectors in patrolling. Rithe further says: If the inquiry reveals that the detectors were either not used or were not useful as per the opinion of staff,it must be found out whether it was informed to the donor that they are of no use. This is simply ignoring the seriousness,efforts and sentiments of donor agencies and individuals by government system, he said. Nitin Desai of Wildlife Protection Society of India and a wildlife crime expert says,It is possible to detect the traps even without using metal detectors. Poachers normally block all tracks leading to the spot they fix the snares except those on which they fix the snares. The tigers are thus virtually waylaid into taking the perilous tracks,invariably getting trapped in the snares. Clearly,the closure of the other tracks is a direct tell-tale sign of traps having been laid. This was also evident at Thursdays spot where a tiger died and another was trapped in poachers snares. Desai suggests even the use of a stick to tap the forest track floor could help detect snares. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) S W H Naqvi agrees. I think it is possible to detect traps even without using the detectors,but we will have to train our staff in doing so. Metal detectors are very few and cant be deployed on the entire 1,700 sq km area of TATR and its buffer. Of coursee,we are thinking of having more of them in future.
