TURA: A manhunt has been launched across the Nokrek National Park in Garo Hills on Saturday to nab two poachers from a local village for killing an endangered adult male sambar deer after their chilling cruelty was recorded on camera and posted on social media.
Teams of wildlife personnel backed by armed police rushed to the remote villages of Sakalgre and Baladinggre, high up on the Nokrek Hills, to nab the poachers who are son-in-laws of the village nokma of the area.
The carcass of the sambar deer has been retrieved on Saturday.
“The accused have been identified as Nilbin T Sangma and Appel T Sangma. They are son-in-laws of Sakalgre village nokma and are absconding. They will be arrested. We have retrieved the carcass of the sambar which was a full grown adult male,” informed Wildlife DFO Arphius Ch Sangma while speaking to The Shillong Times.
Wildlife officials informed that the wild sambar had for long lived on the fringes of Baladinggre village regularly coming near human habitation and was never harmed by the villagers. It is reported that the two poachers from the neighbouring village came to know of the animal’s movement and decided to hunt it down.
The villagers are said to have tried to dissuade the two men from carrying out the hunt but in vain. Both poachers are said to have past criminal antecedents and reportedly bulldozed their way through.
Photos of the two men scouting the forest area outside a village carrying single barrel shot guns and the wild sambar deer lying on the ground has angered citizens across Garo Hills who are demanding stringent punishment to the accused.
The population of sambar has been drastically reduced due to years of poaching and reduction of habitat.