The Forest Department personnel are perturbed over repeated incidents of gaurs being poached in Nagarahole.
In the latest incident, a fully grown gaur aged around 10 to 11 years was found dead on the edge of the Nagarahole buffer zone abutting Devamachi Reserve Forest on Friday.
The carcass was found near the elephant-proof trench which borders the forest boundary. C. Harshakumar, Director, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve said the gaur was ostensibly shot.
This is the second gaur to have been poached during the week as a similar incident was reported on April 17. Three gaurs have been shot in the last one month, the previous incident being reported on March 24.
Mr.Harshakumar said there was a pattern in the killings which had taken place on the forest boundary and hence did not rule out the involvement of the locals. “We are working to solve the mystery behind the killings and our anti-poaching teams have intensified their patrolling,” he added.
Nagarahole is one of the prime tiger and elephant habitats and has a healthy prey density that supports the carnivore population. Being a notified tiger reserve, anti-poaching camps and special tiger force have also been deployed and the officials said that this has prevented any such incident within the core zone. Meanwhile cases have been registered against unidentified persons under various sections of the Wildife Protection Act.
