Wildlife hunting among villagers on the rise in Karnataka The Hindu November 29, 2022 The State government announced setting up a task force to check on the menace of wild elephants, following the attack on MLA M.P. Kumaraswamy in Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagaluru by villagers over the death of a woman in an elephant attack. But conservationists are pointing out how the State government has ignored the burning issue of man-animal conflicts, even as wildlife hunting continues unabated in villages bordering forest areas. Recently, a group of wildlife activists, along with CID forest cell officials, arrested three men trying to sell canine and nails of a leopard in Halebid in Hassan district. The team later recovered the carcass of a leopardess, a snare, and a wooden log, used to bludgeon the animal to death, buried in a cow dung pit in the farmhouse of the accused. The accused Ravi Kumar, a farmer from Kommaranahalli near Halebid in Hassan, had allegedly killed the leopardess, which entered his farmhouse to eat chickens. Officials said that habitats are turning into areas with less prey, forcing wild animals to come into villages for food. This is a classic case of man-animal conflicts, which need immediate attention, a wildlife activist said. Villagers are using a novel method to hunt down animals. A few days ago, Chitradurga forest officials busted a racket and arrested a gang of five villagers who were hunting pangolins in the forest, using stray dogs. Vasanth Kumar, Regional Forest Officer of Chitradurga district, who headed the operation, said that the team tracked down the accused on the outskirts of Holalkere posing as prospective buyers. The officials recovered 3.2 kg scales and nails of pangolins. Explaining the modus operandi, the officials said due to the increase in demand of scales, many villagers get into illegal hunting and train stray dogs. The villagers feed the meat to the dogs and train them to dig out hollow trees or burrows. The dogs are trained to avoid getting the attention of Forest Department officials, Mr. Vasanth Kumar said, adding that buying hunting dogs is not feasible in terms of cost and it also attracts the attention of the forest officials. After hunting the animal, the accused would then dip the carcass in boiling water to remove the scales and nails, and then consume the flesh. The officials are now tracking the network and said the buyers are from the old Mysore region. Sharath Babu R., a wildlife activist who was part of the operation, said little efforts are being made to educate the villagers on how to conserve forest, which is the need of hour. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/wildlife-hunting-among-villagers-on-the-rise-in-karnataka/article66177708.ece