Forest guard dies in hunter’s attack in Thamarassery

[Mrudul Godbole]

Kozhikode, Sunday, April 04, 2010: Devadas, a forest guard of Thamarassery range office who was shot by a hunter, while he was patrolling the forest area died in the hospital. The forest guard was admitted in Kozhikode Medical college hospital after he was shot. Devadas succumbed to his injuries in the Medical college hospital where he was being treated for his injuries.

Link - http://www.asianetindia.com/news/for...ry_142874.html

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

A sour fact.

It is difficult to get dedicated field staff these days and the available staff perishes in these gruesome manners.

The patrolling and protecting strategies should be revisited and modernized. Intensive training is the need of the hour.

Wildlifers know how dangerous it is to walk in the forests infested with poachers. These days poachers are never afraid or even reluctant to open fire at any "outsider" they consider.

The field staffs' morale should be kept very high which unfortunately never happens.

Country should be eternally grateful for those who sacrifice their lives for the sake of protection.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It is really unfortunate.

Some of our forest areas have been infested by maoists and the forest department staff can't enter those areas.

In the other areas, shortage of staff, together with old age, and lack of motivation ensures that our natural heritage lies unprotected. And the few good men who are working hard to protect our wilderness areas get killed by poachers. Unfortunately, this incident will further demoralise the staff.

We protect our dams, industrial buildings, temples etc. Perhaps we still don't understand the importance of natural resources. It is said that the main bottleneck in development of Indian economy is going to be lack of water. Even today, posh colonies in Delhi have to buy water from tankers. A couple of days earlier, Andhra Pradesh had stopped water supply to Tamil Nadu. These things are bound to escalate.

When our forests vanish, our streams and rivers will vanish too.I hope we wake up to the grim reality facing us.

Sabyasachi

[Roopak Gangadharan]

The irony is that the nearby Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary was recently approved by the state wildlife board. Poaching is rampant in these areas. There are known markets for Bush meat where you get anything from Hare to Smoked Gaur meat. Add to this Quacks and traditional medicine men who prescribe part of wild animals for making medicines. Recently I met a Tribal Medicine man who claimed to provide complete cure for Cancer. The prime ingredient of his medicine is the tongue of wild boar and on an average day he has 10-15 clients.


An understaffed, Over worked and ill equipped FD is able to do very little. Friends from the FD tell me the guard who died was a good man who cared for the forest and its inhabitants. we are trying to raise some money for his family for all it is worth…..

[V S Sankar]

It is unfortunate that such an event has happened.But anybody can say that.I am bewildered that it has happened of all places in Kerala.Such deaths are not that common here and people using weopons are much less here than in other states.

Let me tell you that such huntings takes place mainly in Wayanad district and not known to exist in southern districts of Kerala.I dont know why it is like that.

Is it because the FD is stronger in enforcing the law?Or is it because Wayanad is such a complex place that it is difficult to enforce law?Or is it that the common people of south are now more understanding of the importance of preserving nature than those in Wayand?

Why is it that such a news item has not appeared in the more popular news papers?

As far as I know the people of Wayanad are very nice and friendly.Is it a weakness that some bad elements of society are trying to exploit?

The people of south Kerala are supposed to be more rough than their counterparts in north!So may be that is the reason they cannot be explointed that easily?!

Are the people of Wayanad paying a price for being nice and freindly? I dont know for sure.

Regards

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

The poaching is more rampant in Wayanad because the other areas have already been wiped off large mammals.

The famous Periyar forests have adverse sex ratio as far as tuskers are concerned. Reports claim that it is 1:100 ! Whereas the sex ratio is still favourable in Wayanad owing to its contiguity with other prime forests of our country.

Vazachal divn, Nemmara and Nelliampathy in C.Kerala are places where poaching is very rampant. Tuskers are prime targets. Tigers and leopards are bonus. Gaur meat is much preferred and pickles made of Nilgiri langur are delicacies - this is how it is in these areas..

Neyyar, Shendurney, Peppara, Punalur etc in South Kerala (extensive rainforests mostly with stunning bio diversity) have the same story to share.

This problem is not vested with any particular state. Throughout the country we have this problem due to lack of political will and apathy of people.

Poaching incidences are generally very high in inter-state borders.