Mysuru: In spite of all efforts made by the Government to control poaching and smuggling wildlife, India has lost more than 30 tigers in the first six months of 2015. All efforts of the government like installing cameras and increasing patrolling by the guards has not put a stop to wildlife related crimes.
Karnataka leads with 9 cases of tiger deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh with 6, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have had 5 each tiger’s deaths each. To control the poaching, sniffer dogs specially trained by 28 handlers have been made a part of the squads to spread across the seven tiger-bearing states. They were trained under a project conducted by New Delhi-based Wildlife TRADE Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC) and World Wide Fund for Nature-India at 23rd Battalion of Special Armed Reserve Forces.
German Shepherd Rana, first to be brought in:
One-and-a-half-year-old German shepherd, Rana has been in rigorous nine-month training with his handler Prakash S Honnakore from the STPF. The training started last October at the dog training school attached to the 23rd Battalion of Special Armed Reserve Forces Bhopal Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking with News Karnataka, Prakash S Honnakore shares his experience being a trainer and handler for Rana.
“I was working in STPF Nagarahole from 2010, but did not have knowledge on this type of dog training before. But Kala Kalkara Mage and I got selected for the training camp”, he said while speaking of his initial situation. He went on to talk about his training period with Rana and elaborated on the family like bond that came to be during the nine months.
Rana who is said to be a good learner and obeys orders without fail, has been in Bandipur for 10 days and is doing well while slowly adjusting to the climatic conditions. “We are not giving him any tough tasks as of now because because the field area is slightly different from the limited training area he is used to,” he said.
Speaking in reference to the poaching activities and Rana’s involvement in the cases, Prakash said, “We have 5 Tiger Reserve forests in Karnataka and Rana alone has successfully carried out tracking in and around all these places. Now the task is to track Bandpiur and G S Betta forest areas. He certainly has the ability to detect and track minor clues left by wildlife poachers so from now on the poachers in these areas will have a tough time,”
Depending on his performance, Rana will be visiting the problematic areas and sensitive areas where major wildlife poaching is done across Karnataka. He also mentioned his happiness in being a part of the state’s first dog squad.
Speaking about Rana and his position in the squad, he said that Rana is treated as one of the special guards. He has been given an exclusive vehicle to visit the forest areas after he is served one litre of milk and 400 grams of pedigree in the morning. Half a kilogram of meat and rotis form a part of his evening meal, he added.
Rana is doing good in Bandipur and approximately Rupees 500/- per day is what is spent on him including the expenses of the trainer. “We have a Veterinary Doctor who will be taking care of Rana’s health”, said H C Kantharaju, Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve. He also added that there are plans to construct an exclusive shed for him with all necessary facilities so as to create a good environment for his daily routine exercises.
“Depending on the performance of Rana we may introduce few more dog squads in other Tiger Reserves”, he said while being questioned about their future plan of action. Speaking on Tiger deaths in Karnataka, Kantharaju opined that the death rate is less than 2% as we have 462 tigers across Karnataka. “We are working intensively to control the deaths from poaching. Earlier the deaths were not being reported on time so the death count was not noticed but now we are reporting each and every case”, he said.
He then went on to say that the forest department is not as privileged as other departments. They lack several required facilities due to which they face a tough time when there are difficult weather conditions. He urged the government to pay special attention to this situation and provide better facilities so that they can perform their duties well.
