Hyderabad varsity continues to be favourite hunting ground for poachers
Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad, with its abundance of wildlife like spotted deer, wild boar, peacock and other small mammals, continues to be a favourite hunting ground for poachers.
The campus wildlife photography enthusiast group, Wild Lens, claims to have caught around 60 poachers in the past two years. Founder of the group Jillapalli Ravi said, “We caught more than 30 poachers red-handed and the remaining were caught either moving in campus with snares or lingering in a suspicious manner near forest areas.”
Last year a habitual poacher died in the university when a wild boar attacked him, he was trying to catch the animal. The forest department is to be blamed as only a handful of the poachers handed over by Wild Lens to government officials are actually punished, encouraging others to venture in the university fearlessly.
There are also allegations that some university insiders support the poachers and a complaint was earlier given by students in this regard, however university officials deny the allegations.
Since Hyderabad’s three national parks are guarded by the forest department, the university's wildlife becomes an easy target as the area is protected by private security personnel who are responsible for guarding the entire campus.
The university employs 251 guards at a cost of around '35 lakh per month to guard the 2,500-acre campus.
Even though the more than three-decade-old institution has surplus security staff, it does not have a proper compound wall and is vulnerable to poachers and other anti social elements.
The wall's height does not go beyond five feet anywhere and at some points it is completely missing. There is also no electric fencing or broken glass shards to prevent jumping over the wall. A reason behind this, as per university officials, is poor funding by the University Grants Commission.
When contacted, a university official said that the university might ask for the forest department’s help in solving the poaching problem on its campus but these and other planned measures will be discussed once the vice-chancellor is back, as he was out of station on Monday.
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