E-Paper
Wildbuzz: Dog’s unfaithful friend
While dogs are celebrated as the epitome of loyalty, humans do not always return fidelity in equal measure
While dogs are celebrated as the epitome of loyalty, humans do not always return fidelity in equal measure.
A silent, pining female dog in the care of the Wild Animal Rehabilitation and Rescue Centre, Ropar, can vouch for humanity’s self-serving ways, were she to be gifted a human tongue for just five minutes. In the custody of the Forests and Wildlife Preservation department since the night of January 7, this female dog has reduced her food intake despite best efforts by the veterinary staff. This dog, described by Ropar DFO (Wildlife) Kulraj Singh as a mix between a bully breed and a ‘walterrier’ (or a pitbull variant), is an unusual ward at the centre.
She had been trained for poaching ever since she was a pup and had taken to it as a highly-motivated accomplice. A department patrol had intercepted poachers roving in a jeep in the Nurpur Bedi jungles.
The poachers fled, but left their faithful companion behind. The dog was evidently sniffing out an innocent creature in the night for poachers to butcher. When the dog came to the centre, she was aggressive and would pounce at the staff in unbridled rage. But after a few days, the cold realities of her changed fortunes dawned on her. At her new home, she piped down, lost her propensity to bite viciously and turned gloomy. The reason: her absconding owner did not care to turn up and claim her.
Though the department did not seize any evidence against the owner that night — weapons or animal carcasses — a guilty conscience seems to have gotten the better of the fickle benefactor. Hence, her plight: callously abandoned. Poaching dogs lead a dangerous life as they are fair game for big boars and leopards. Boars are legendary for their prowess in severely wounding or dispatching to hell the tormenting hounds. One cannot help but feel a twinge of empathy for the dog, an innocent creature really, as it was her training that had turned her into a bloodthirsty monster. The innocent dog was following a path that a villainous human had doomed her for. She had no choice.
Calibre of poachers
The VIP poachers, Bhai Angad S Bhagrian from Sector 9, Chandigarh, and Balraj S Ghumman from Patiala, arrested by the Ropar wildlife division during the wee hours of Lohri day with a dead barking deer (Kakar) were using rifles of the .30-06 calibre, with bolt actions and powerful telescope mounts. The calibre traces its introduction to the US Army in 1906, but has since found enduring global popularity as a sporting calibre.
The problem is that a number of cases have surfaced where the .30-06 rifle has been used for poaching apart from its legitimate use in crop protection and slaying man-eater leopards or tigers.
This calibre has been imported by a section of national “renowned”, “big bore” competition shooters and then misused for poaching, such as the case of Jet pilot officer, Arjun B Mehta, arrested near Leh while attempting to poach urials with a German .30-06 Springfield by JP Sauer and Sohn. Apart from rifle imports, the directorate of ordnance has been manufacturing .30-06 rifles in India since a few years. Sporting ammunition for the .30-06 is easily available through imports, enhancing the rifle’s popularity.
“As compared to the other Indian manufacture, the .315 rifle, the .30-06 is more accurate and affords alonger killing range due to its high muzzle velocity that can reach 3,200-3,400 ft per second. It is a versatile weapon and one can use anywhere between a 110-220 grain bullet, costing between ₹200-400 per bullet. Though this calibre falls in the category of medium-bore rifles, the wide variation in grain weights allows it to be used as a light or even a medium-heavy bore rifle that tends towards the classic, heavy bore, .375 Magnum rifle,” Ashish Dasgupta, a renowned hunter of man-eaters who prefers the .30-06 rifle with bullets of 180-220 grains on his dangerous expeditions, told this writer.
