After nabbing poachers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the sniffer dogs trained by Traffic-India/ WWF to control wildlife trafficking across the country have achieved another success in Jharkhand. This time it has led to the recovery of 32 kg of ivory from the forests of Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary. The tusks were of an elephant that had died two days earlier.

Two-year-old sniffer dog Tracey came to the rescue of the Jharkhand forest officials when they had given up hope of nabbing the elephant tusk poacher. On reaching the spot where the elephant had died, the forest officials found that its tusks were missing and immediately launched a search.

With no success in hand, Tracey was called from the Betla Tiger Reserve, where she is presently placed along with her two handlers. After searching the area thoroughly, she led the team to the spot where the tusks were hidden, said Traffic-India coordinator, MKS Pasha. The operation was coordinated by Kamlesh Pandey, DFO, Wildlife Division, Ranchi.

Earlier, Jackie, a yet another trained dog under the programme had helped apprehend two poachers in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Several traps for catching wild animals and six live Grey Francolins were recovered from them.

The success of the programme was repeated again by Raja in Bhrampuri Wildlife division, Maharashtra. The villagers living nearby had killed a leopard and hidden its body parts. Raja, along with his handlers not only found the hidden parts but also helped bust a racket that led to the arrest of seven involved.

The programme has so far trained seven dogs with fourteen handlers to detect wildlife articles as tiger bones, tiger skin, leopard bones, leopard skin, bear bile etc. The dogs are currently deployed in the forest departments of Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

According to Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF-India, illegal wildlife trade has evolved into an organised crime threatening the survival of many species in the country. While the current practices for combating wildlife trade is yet to meet with the desired result, sniffer dogs are making a difference in this regard.