Samir Sinha, the chief wildlife warden Uttarakhand, has sent a letter to the additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF), project tiger, Uttar Pradesh, Sunil Chaudhary, saying that poachers’ groups are active on the southern end of Corbett Tiger Reserve, particularly areas shared with Uttar Pradesh.
He has requested that parts of Uttar Pradesh Forest close to Corbett Tiger Reserve be also put under surveillance and with joint operation of the two states.
Following the intel, forest officials in several districts have been put on alert, including Bareilly, Meerut, Moradabad, Saharanpur, and Bijnor.
Besides, search operations are ongoing and the use of gadgets, including metal detectors, infrared camera, smart cages, drone camera, camera traps and M-STrIPES, has been increased.
M-STrIPES uses Global Positioning System (GPS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), and remote sensing to collect information from the field, and to provide inferences that allow tiger reserve managers to better manage their wildlife resources.
Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand share land boundary in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly and Pilibhit.
Forest staff of the two states are now conducting joint operations to nab any poacher/unwanted person in the forest area.
“Since the border areas in forest between the two states are not marked as wild animals move from one place to another and they should not find any hinderance in movement, hence, the border remains porous both for animals and humans,” said a senior forest official.
Search operations are being conducted day and night by different teams. Officials of two states are communicating with each other to ensure that no unidentified man passes through and no item such as big boxes go unchecked.
A protected area established in 1977, the Dudhwa National Park was declared as a tiger reserve in 1987. The area is found to have a significant population of Bengal tigers and other biodiversity.
The reserve is habitat to a diverse range of wildlife, including tigers, leopards, elephants, sloth bears, and over 450 species of birds.
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