Mysuru: One more sniffer dogs would be deployed to guard Karnataka tiger reserves.
According to Director of Nagarahole National Park, H C Kantharaju, one more sniffer dog which is currently been trained at Bhopal will be added to Karnataka tiger reserves. The dog will be handed over to Special Tiger Protection Force. It will be deployed at one of the six state’s tiger reserves-Bandipur National Park, Nagarahole National Park, Dandeli-Anshi, Billigiri Rangaswamy Temple, Bhadra or Kali.
Seven tiger states to get sniffer dogs: It’s not only Karnataka which will receive sniffer dogs, other states such as Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand too are likely to get sniffer dogs to prevent poaching and trading from the forest. It is estimated that the number of sniffer dogs working to detect and prevent wildlife crimes in India at present is 27.
Rana- Department’s pride
Rana, a German shepherd dog is in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, which is the only sniffer dog of the state forest department managed by Special Tiger Protection Force. The dog is most sought after to detect wildlife crimes not only in Karnataka, but also in other states as well. In its first case, it sniffed out a teak wood smuggler, since then it has helped to crack many cases in forest areas. Recently, it helped to trace a tiger which was a man eater in Tamil Nadu. Rana has its account on social networking websites which is managed by its handler Prakash S Honnakore.
