Mahadevpur poaching incident in Telangana reveals loopholes in Forest Act

HYDERABAD: The Mahadevpur poaching incident, in which carcasses of two spotted deer were retrieved from a car, has raised a question on the safety of wild animals in forests of Telangana. However, this was not the first poaching incident this year. As per records of the Telangana forest department, 10 cases of poaching have already been recorded this year from the state, a majority of them from forests of Kawal Tiger Reserve and of Karimnagar district.  

Poaching wildlife for meat

It may be recalled that in 1998 a major violation was unearthed at Khammam as it came to be known that meat of wild animals was being served for dinner hosted by a former Telugu Desam Party leader, who is currently serving as a minister in the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government. Many legislators had also attended the dinner. 

While Telangana forest department claims that such incidents are a thing of past, wildlife activists claim it is far from truth. They allege that meat of wild animals is still being served in parties at several places across Telangana and that many times such events do not occur without the knowledge of forest department officials. 

There are also allegations that such incidents have even happened in forest department guest houses. Meat of small wild mammals and birds is still sold at roadside dhabas. 

Hyderabad connect  

The owner of the car, in which the two carcasses were found in Mahadevpur, was found to be owned by Faizal Ahmed Khan, a resident of Vijayanagar Colony in Hyderabad. This is not the first time that a poaching incident has had a Hyderabad connection. In 2015, when two people died in an accident in Medak, wild animal meat was recovered from their vehicle along with guns. 

Hyderabad has many hunting enthusiasts, some of whom have been enrolled by Telangana forest department for culling wild boars.

There are many in the city who  regularly go for trophy hunting to African nations. As per some lower cadre forest department officials and wildlife activists, some of these hunting enthusiasts often go to forests in different districts for hunting spotted deer, black buck and wild boars without any fear of law. 

Absence of CWW

Telangana, a home to nine wildlife sanctuaries, three national parks and two tiger reserves, does not have a Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW). Not just this but there are just two functioning anti-poaching squads in the state, one in Hyderabad and the other in Kawal Tiger Reserve.

Most of the anti-poaching staff is outsourced, works without proper equipment or training. There are just around 289 Forest Range Officers in Telangana whereas this is much higher in other states like Tamil Nadu which has 562 FRO