Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday informed the Chhattisgarh Assembly that as many as 450 wildlfe animals died due to various reasons in a little more than two years in various forest circles of the State.
The data on wildlife deaths pertained to the period between 2012-13 till January 25, 2014.In a written reply to Congress member Umesh Patel, the Chief Minister stated that an ‘Anti Poaching Squad’ had already been formed in the State. He said that action is being taken against persons involved in poaching activities in the State.
‘The Government has evolved a wide set of solutions for the safety of wildlife animals. The squads formed by the Forest Department are keeping constant vigil in the forest areas,’ Singh said.
The Chief Minister stated that the help of joint forest management committees is also being sought for conserving wildlife.‘The Government had also established check posts in the sensitive pockets in forest areas besides all out efforts are underway to put a check on poaching in co-ordination with the Police Department,’ Singh stated.
In a recent case of unnatural mass death of wildlife animals in Chhattisgarh, 22 spotted dear were found dead last month at a famous Kanan Pendari zoo in Bilaspur district about which forest officials initially termed Anthrax as the prime reason of the death but later the officials denied it on the basis of a detailed investigation carried out into the shocking case.
But the State Government has yet to confirm the actual reason of Kanan Pendari deer death about which people living in vicinity of the zoo, link the death to a poaching racket.