3 farmers held for ‘poisoning’ 10 blue bulls in Amreli

Officers of the Sarasiya range of Gir (east) wildlife division arrested Rohit Hirapara, Hasmukh Hirapara and Jayesh Mangroliya, all from Kami village Wednesday.

“The accused created artificial water points by preparing water troughs from polymer drums, filled them with water and added some poison into it. At one location, they mixed urea in puddles formed by water leaking from an underground pipeline. The blue bulls drank water from these troughs and died,” Rajdeepsinh Jhala, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) of Gir (east) wildlife division said.

Water troughs seized by the forest department from an agricultural farm in Kami village in Amreli.

The DCF said that some farmers mix agriculture-grade urea, which is a chemical fertiliser, in water and such water proves lethal to animals.

“We suspect the farmers used urea to poison these blue bulls also. However, we have sent samples of the water for forensic analysis to identify the poison,” Jhala said.

Of the 10 animals found dead so far, five were males, three females and two unidentified. Forest officers said that the carcasses were found in the radius of just a few hundred metres.

“The carcasses which came to light on Tuesday, prima facie seemed at least two days old,” the DCF said.

The forest department has seized a tractor and three motor-bikes suspected to have been used in the offence. They have also seized four water troughs made from polymer drums.

The DCF said hat an offence of hunting blue bulls has been registered at Sarasiya range forest office in this connection. “Hunting of blue bulls is a compoundable offence. However, in this case, the farmers’ obvious intent was not to protect their crops from these herbivores but to exterminate the species as is evidenced by the fact that there are no standing crops on the field of any of these farmers. This is the reason, we didn’t compound the offence and produced them in a court in Dhari,” said Jhala.

The DCF said that the three accused even confessed their crime.

However, the court in Dhari released the three farmers on bail even as forest officers said that they apprehend the death toll of blue bulls will increase further.

Dr Jalpan Rupapara, a radiologist from Junagadh who has been conducting research on lions in revenue areas within Gir landscape said that the carcasses of poisoned blue bulls posed a threat to even lions. “Drinking urea-laced water increases ammonia levels in the blood of animals and also damages organs like the liver, leading to deaths. Lions often eat organs like levers of herbivores and if such organs have urea poisoning, it is possible lions may also feel effects of poison,” said Dr Rupapara.