Bhopal: The eight cheetahs brought to the Kuno National Park from Namibia will soon have a canine guard protecting them from poachers. Official sources said that a five-month-old German Shepherd Ilu is being trained for the purpose adding that she will be deployed at the Kuno National Park to protect the big cats from poachers.
They further revealed that Ilu along with five other dogs are being trained to be part of the 'Supper Sniffer' squad which will be used to protect wildlife in several national parks in the country. Officials said that after the completion of three months basic training and four months of advanced training to instill qualities like obedience, sniffing and tracking skills, the dogs will be deployed from April next year.
The canines will be trained to detect and trace leopard and tiger skins bones, elephant tusks and other body parts, bear bile, Red Sanders, and several other illegal wildlife products. "Dogs develop an unbreakable bond with their handlers that makes them excellent in their job," said Sanjeev Sharma, handler of Ilu, who is currently employed with the forest department at Kuno National Park.
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He also said that Illu is like a child to him. She was just two months old when he picked her here for training. As per the norms, dogs stay with the same handler from day one till their day of retirement. Sharma said that Ilu's primary responsibility will be to protect the cheetahs from poachers.
"Ilu is not supposed to protect cheetahs because they can protect themselves, she will be deployed on the periphery of the national park along with forest guards to protect cheetahs and other animals from poachers," added Sharma.
According to Ishwar Singh Duhan, Inspector General of Basic Training Center of Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (BTC-ITBP) in Panchkula, they are providing specialized training to the dogs that are to be deployed at Kuno National Park.
"The dogs will be trained to detect tiger skin and bones during the specialized training course. These dogs are being trained by us in collaboration with TRAFFIC (a wildlife trade monitoring network) and WWF-India (World Wide Fund for Nature India)," he said.
"Dogs trained at ITBP dog training centre have a high rate of wildlife crime detection. There are scores of success stories where dogs have helped in the arrest of poachers and recoveries of wildlife species and their remains," added Duhan.
