Erode (Tamil Nadu) : Environmentalists here urged forest officials to find out if the stirrings of Bawaria robbers in the nearby forests posed a threat to white tigers in Sathyamangalam Tiger Sanctuary. They made this plea following arrest of four persons who set up a temporary shelter in the forests and lived at forest village Arasur near Sathyamangalam. Their unknown motive triggered fears of likelihood of poaching white tigers.
Immediately after getting the information from some sources, the forest officials conducted a raid in select spots and checked the temporary shelter. In this operation, the officials recovered a tiger skin, claw and bones which were found hidden in the sack. The four arrested persons were identified as Ratna (40), Mangal (28), Krishnan (59) from Punjab and Ram Chander (50) from Rajasthan.
And the forest officials said that the arrested four people are found to be members of Bawaria gangs, who are notorious for dacoities and killings. In this case, the forest officials investigated from various angles. Officials also investigated whether the arrested persons carried out any hunting in the forest area. Meanwhile, the Erode-based environmentalists urged forest department to find out whether white tigers were poached or had gone into the dense forest.
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The white tigers were seen two years ago in the Avilanchi forest area of Nilgiri forest range. As all the four arrested are Bawaria robbers, the environmentalists became greatly worried about the safety of wildlife. They demanded that the forest department check if any of their companions are staying in other forest areas to engage in wildlife hunting. If so, they should be nabbed immediately.
