The
lawmakers and the wildlife experts fear that the forests of Uttarakhand and Nepal –
China border have become hunting ground for musk – bearing stag . Musk is a
strong scented secretion glands of male musk deer, normally used for perfume
and medicinal use in China and its neighbours. This very thing makes the deer
vulnerable to hunters and poachers due to its demand in the international market.
The population of the musk deer in Uttarakhand was 274 in 2003 and 279 in 2005.
The last census was taken in the year 2008, when the count was 284 as per the
official record. There are two musk deer sanctuaries in Uttarakhand – Askot (Pithoragarh
district) and Kedarnath (in Chamoli and Rudraprayag district). There are no statistics
on the population of the musk deer in these two sanctuaries.
The
hunters and poachers of India and Nepal hunt the deer and coordinate closely to
make trade on the musk pod. The animal parts are smuggled from this area to
other places of commercial interests. Due to lack of forest staff, the poachers have
easily been carrying out this activity. The poachers set forests on fire to
disturb the habitats of the deer, and snare those that come out in order to
escape the fire. There have been the cases of seizing the musk pods from the
poachers. The last musk pod was seized in 2014. Prior to that, in 2012, two
musk pods were seized. The districts –
Chamoli, Uttarakashi, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar are vulnerable to this poaching.
The
weight of the musk pod is around 100-250 grams making it is to carry. So, it’s
not very difficult to smuggle this item on the borders. The solution to resolve
this problem lies by strengthening the information between forest, police,
informers etc. As per the official
record, against sanctioned positions of forest guard of 3650, only 2700 have
been filled. So, by improving the networking and strengthening the areas where
there are vacuums, this menace can be prevented.
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