Two persons flee after poaching spotted deer in Tiruvannamalai

A country gun, explosives, gun powder and a two-wheeler were found along with the deer’s carcass; cases have been registered against the two young men, Forest Dept officials said

Two persons fled after poaching a two-year-old male spotted deer in the Kowthimalai reserve forest (RF) in Tiruvannamalai, on Saturday.

Forest Department officials said a country-made gun, explosives, gun power, a two-wheeler, nets, torches and batteries were found, along with the carcass of the deer.

It was during a routine patrol in the forest that a five-member Forest team found two young men, in their early 20s, inside the reserve forest at around 12.30 a.m. They also found a dead spotted deer. “After hunting the deer, the two were loading the country-made gun with gunpowder to hunt another deer when we intercepted them. They fled the spot,” N. Srinivasan, Forest Range Officer, Tiruvannamalai range, told The Hindu.

This is the second incident in this reserve forest (RF) since June this year: in the earlier incident, Forest officials nabbed nine persons for poaching wild animals.

The Tiruvannamalai range has seven RFs including Chippakadu, Athipakkam, Adinamalai and Sorakolathur, covering 13,000 hectares. Around 45 cases have been registered in the range for poaching since January.

Initial inquiries revealed that two youth from Polur taluk near Tiruvannamalai were involved in the poaching. Forest officials found their address through their vehicle’s number plate. They searched the houses of the accused and nearby areas. A special team has also been posted in their villages. The team also found that the accused procured the country-made gun and gunpowder from neighbouring Kerala through contacts for hunting of small wild animals. Cases have been filed against them.