Poachers: 6,960 poachers arrested in last 10 years: Minister | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: As many as 6,960 poachers have been arrested in the state in past 10 years in connection with 1,869 wildlife crimes, forest minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia informed the assembly on Wednesday.
He said hides of leopard, tiger, bear, sambar and tusks of elephants have been found from the arrested poachers. He was responding to a question by Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati, who wanted to know how many poachers were arrested in the last 10 years, hunting equipment seized and steps being taken to save animals from poachers.
“All seized wildlife items and articles are preserved in various range offices.We have formed anti-depredation and anti-poaching squad, anti-poaching camps, bird conservation camps. Besides, patrolling in forest is going on by adopting modern technology to monitor activities of poachers. We have also formed a joint task force to analyse wildlife crimes and take necessary action. The forest department is also taking a lot of steps to generate public awareness,” he said in his written reply.
Forest officials said on an average 70 poachers were arrested and around 18 cases registered annually.
In another reply, the minister said the state has 54 endangered species, out of which 22 are mammals, 17 are reptiles and 15 birds, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data.
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