Poachers held for killing wild elephant

Chennai, June 8 : In two separate incidents, six poachers were arrested and charged under Wildlife Protection Act for killing a wild elephant and possessing two tusks, in Salem and Dharmapuri districts of Tamil Nadu.

Police and Forest department sources quoting a delayed report told UNI today that four people were arrested for killing a seven year-old male elephant in the Biligundulu Reserve Forest area, where the carcass was found.

Considering the highly decomposed state of the carcass, officials beleive that the elephant would have been killed at least a week ago. The tusks of the elephant were missing.

Acting on information, forest officials from Dharmapuri arrested four poachers and cases were registered against them under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The Forest department have stepped up vigil in the Biligundulu and Hogenakkal Reserve Forest areas to prevent poaching.

A report from Salem, said two poachers were arrested at Mettur and two elephant tusks (cut into six pieces), weighing about five kg, were seized from them yesterday.

This was the first seizure in the last 20 years in the Mettur forest ranges situated on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, which remained a domain of slain forest brigand Veerappan.

UNI