2 Bird Hunters Held; Dead Bats, Hunting Nets Seized

India: In a crackdown on illegal bird hunters in the district, forest officials today arrested at least two poachers from Barang Reserve Forest area and seized two dead bats along with various tools used for trapping birds.

The arrested poacher duo has been identified as Manoj Dehury and Rasanand Dehury of Amarakola village.

A team of forest officials from Anandpur Wildlife Division led by Ranger Mihir Ranjan Patnaik conducted a raid on the house of the hunter duo late in the night yesterday and took them into custody.

Two hunting nets along with bird hunting rifles and few other weapons were also seized from their possession by the forest officials.

Informing on the raid, Patnaik said the arrests were made after Barang forest registered a rise in bird hunting activities in past few months. It was alleged that poachers earned large amount of money by smuggling birds to the neighbouring states after hunting them in the forest.

The arrested hunters have been forwarded to court and forest department is examining the role of any inter-state racket in the incident.

(Source: The Kalinga)