The officials of the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) have been given lessons in tranquilising rogue wildlife. In the recently-concluded three-day training on ecology, ethnology and population estimation of large mammals in Betla, the PTR officials were given a demonstration of the use of tranquilising gun, dosage of sedative etc.
There was, however, no practice whatsoever of the tranquilising shot on any wild animal in the PTR. It was all a demonstration shown on the screen, said sources. The DFO Core of the PTR, Premjit Anand, conceded that there was only demonstration of the handling, use of the tranquilising gun with knowledge shared about the dosage of sedative. No practical training was done, he reiterated.
The training was focused on rescue and release of any wild animal while their diseases were also discussed. DS Srivastava, who runs an NGO and has a well researched doctoral thesis on the elephants, said street dogs create menace in PTR as they commonly carry rabies virus and canine distemper to the reserve. “These canines drink water from a water bodies where leopard, wolf, hyena, tiger etc and chances of getting infected are much higher.”
The three-day training in Betla which was graced by former director forest research institute Kerala Dr PS Easa and former forest vet officer of Tamil Nadu Dr Kalaivanan along with CCF cum field director PTR AS Rawat has come as a shot in the arm of the officers here as the PTR is struggling for its chronic shortage of personnel with fleet of forest guards depleting with every passing six months. The detection of age of the dead wild animals and cause of death were extensively discussed and doubts were removed during the discussion, said Premjit Anand.