Poachers Caught on Cameras in Mancherial Forest

The forest department had installed the camera traps in March to track the tiger, which had been frequenting the area. According to Jaipur ACP A. Venkateshwarlu, the poachers panicked after realising their movements had been recorded. To evade detection by forest or police officials, they stole four camera traps from the Neelvai forest range.

Ironically, the stolen cameras helped save the tiger from falling prey to the poachers. Forest staff had earlier filed a complaint with the Neelvai police, stating that some camera traps had gone missing on March 25.

Investigations revealed that local poachers had stolen two cameras after their movements were recorded while hunting antelopes in the Baddampalli forest area on March 20. They had hidden the devices at the residence of Kola Tirupathi.

In a similar episode, the poachers were again caught on camera during a hunt in the Mailaram forest area. They subsequently stole and destroyed two more camera traps. Police identified the poachers as repeat offenders and, during the probe, four of them confessed to stealing and damaging the cameras. The Vemanapalli police seized four camera traps and a battery-powered hunting light from the accused, who were arrested on March 9.