Wildlife conservationist seeks revival of anti-poaching camps in forest areas of Belagavi district

Giridhar Kulkarni wrote a letter to Meenakshi Negi, head of the forest force and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, seeking strengthening of such camps.

A Belagavi-based wildlife conservationist has urged the government of Karnataka to revive anti-poaching camps to protect wildlife along the inter-State borders in Belagavi district.

Giridhar Kulkarni wrote a letter to Meenakshi Negi, head of the forest force and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, seeking strengthening of such camps by filling vacancies and reviving defunct ones. A copy of the letter has been sent to Subhash Malkhede, PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden.

“As you are aware, Khanapur taluk in Belagavi district (Belagavi division) is home to diverse flora, fauna and majority of the areas are part of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot. The forests here are home to tiger, leopard, Asiatic elephant, sloth bear, great Indian hornbill and many other species, which have been accorded the highest degree of protection under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,’‘ he wrote.

“However, presence of these wildlife species, including rich flora, is not limited to Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary. They are also found in Khanapur, Londa, Kanakumbi, Nagargali and Golihalli ranges. Majority of these ranges share their border not only with other districts and forest divisions of Karnataka, but also with other States, especially Goa and Maharashtra, hence posing a great challenge to the Forest Department to protect forests and wildlife from smuggling, hunting, trespassing, fires and other factors,” he wrote.

“Keeping these aspects in mind, many anti-poaching camps and check posts were established in Khanapur, Londa, Kanakumbi, Nagargali ranges in the past. However, most of these camps and check posts are having no staff and are empty. This is a very serious issue since these ranges have been witnessing cases of smuggling, hunting, or trespassing. There is an immediate and urgent need for restarting these camps and check posts by deploying sufficient staff, especially during the summer season, which is likely to pose a challenge due to fires,” he wrote.

“Also, many ranges do not have sufficient staff. An example is Kanakumbi range, which seems to be having only two Beat Foresters with a handful of DRFOs. Hence, lack of permanent staff and also non-functional APCs or check posts in territorial ranges is a real threat to forest and wildlife protection. While huge budgetary allocations have been made for afforestation works in the dry region of the division, especially Belagavi sub-division, territorial ranges in Khanapur and Nagargali sub-divisions of Khanapur taluk are lacking necessary funding needed for core protection and conservation activities, which has to be viewed seriously,” he said.

“Therefore, in the larger interest of wildlife, we request you to take stock of the situation on urgent basis with a request to take action to strengthen anti-poaching camps and check posts by providing necessary budgetary allocations at the earliest possible to safeguard these important wildlife habitats,” he said.