Forest Department staff of Kalakkad Range of Kalakkad– Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve nabbed and fined two persons on Tuesday for fixing metal wire snares in their farms situated close to the Western Ghats to hunt wild boars.
Department sources said KMTR’s Kalakkad patrol team received information around 1 p.m. on Monday that a couple of farmers had fixed steel wire snares in their farms under Padmaneri beat to trap invading wild animals, especially wild boars, which caused extensive damage to standing crops. When the patrol team members inspected a farm, owned by a mutt at Padmaneri and taken on sub-lease by K. Durai and S. Marimuthu of Manjuvilai from main lessee Anburaj, they found that the farmers had fixed metal wire snares at several places to catch wild boars.
After photographing the snares, the forest officials removed them and confiscated calcium carbide powder kept in 10 packets in the farm for artificially ripening the mangoes harvested there.
When Durai and Marimuthu were picked up for questioning, they reportedly confessed to have kept the snares to catch the wild animals as they had suffered huge crop damage by intruding wild boars.
“After handing over the calcium carbide powder to the police to be sent for chemical analysis, the forest personnel imposed a fine of Rs. 3,000 each on Durai and Marimuthu before releasing them,” said K. Muruganantham, Deputy Director of Kalakkad Division, KMTR.
