Sniffer dog Rana who was the scourge of anti-social elements and helped crack many poaching and hunting cases, including a few in other States, died of natural causes at Bandipur on Tuesday and was accorded a State funeral by the Forest Department.
A German Shepherd, he was born on December 12, 2013 and belonged to the 28th battalion to pass out of the Dog Training Centre of the Special Armed Forces in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
He trained from October 13, 2014 to June 23, 2015 and was inducted and deployed at Bandipur in June 2015. As the first member of the dog squad, Rana had helped sniff out various crimes, including poaching and hunting.
On March 9, 2016, Rana helped provide vital clues to the forest department squad to crack a timber smuggling case in N. Begur. He followed it up by zeroing in on miscreants who had poisoned two leopards in the Omkar range of Bandipur Tiger Reserve in July the same year.
He was also instrumental in busting a sandalwood bursting racket at Srirangapatana in Mandya district. As the fame of Rana’s expertise in sniffing out various forest-related crimes spread far and wide, he came to be in demand in other parts of the State as well and would be deputed to secure a breakthrough in cracking various offences and forest crimes.
An astute canine cop
Rana, with his impeccable training and inherent sense of smell, would detect the hide out of leopards and tigers evading capture or tranquilization during combing operations in conflict situation. This includes the episode where he offered assistance in tranquilization and capture of a tiger declared as a man-eater who was on the prowl in Mudumalai in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, said Rana, in his 7 years of service with the forest department, had helped crack more than 45 forest crimes apart from helping capture and tranquilize 8 tigers.
Rana’s death was received with a sense of grief and sadness by his handler and other forest department staff though he had retired some time ago. As Rana lay draped in the National Flag, senior officials including Mr. Ramesh Kumar placed wreaths on his body and gave him a salute before cremating him.
