Forest dept to induct 2 canines

Kolkata: In a significant stride towards effective tracking and control of wildlife crime the state Forest department will soon induct two new dogs in its fleet – one of which will be posted at Buxa Tiger Reserve while another at Jaldapara National Park.

The two German Shepherds -Sweetie and Trophy who will be soon introduced at Buxa and Jaldapara respectively has graduated from Police DIG Training Centre at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. The present member of canines in the fleet of the Forest department is 10.

Sweetie will be the third member in the Buxa team after Karim and Liza who were brought three years back. Trophy will be the second member after Rani at Jaldapara.

Buxa Tigee Reserve spanning over an area of 762 sqaure km shares its border with Bhutan. It has two divisions- east and west. The department has plans to introduce another dog at Buxa.

"The dogs in our department are specially trained in sniffing and tracking. They are very effective in sniffing out tiger and leopard skins, elephant tusks, deer skins or hides and similar articles that are associated with illegal wildlife trade," said a senior official of the Forest department.

The two dogs have travelled a long distance by road on their journey to North Bengal. They will be under rest for some days and will then be joining the forest team.

Karim, a Belgian Malinois and Ikna a German Shepherd presently in the fleet of the department have figured among the top five dogs of the country when it comes to tackling of wildlife crime and had bagged awards in 2019.