Staff Reporter Aizawl, June 23:
Five poachers, including a minor, have been arrested near Dampa Tiger Reserve in western Mizoram.
According to Mizoram based Association for Environment Protection (ASEP) statement today, the villagers from Andermanik village near the tiger reserve were arrested on Sunday along with carcasses of different animals and their guns.
The statement said the four adults - Bimal Chan Chakma,26, Kalabu Chakma, 22, Ganjahiya Chakma and Nilobaron Chakma, 34, along with a boy, went inside Dampa TR core area on June 9.
They allegedly killed gibbon couple on June 10, a wild gaur on June 12 and a deer on June 14. The wildlife protection squad arrested them on June 20 near their village and seized the carcasses and the guns they used for killing the protected animals.
After spending a night at Teirei Wildlife Range lockup, they were sent to Mamit district court, it said.
Meanwhile, two villagers of Lallen in Mamit district had also been nabbed with the help of camera traps for poaching in the tiger reserve area, the statement said.
The two villagers - Ladinsanga and Lalrokima were suspected of occasionally poaching inside the tiger reserve but they could not be caught red-handed. The camera traps finally caught their images, the led to their arrest, it said.
(Source: Newslink Vol-XXIII No.131 Aizawl June 24, Thursday 2021)