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Wildbuzz | Enter the dragon
A wildlife photographer, Raj was focused on a covey of Grey partridges (francolins) foraging along a Purkhali road. Before Raj or the francolins knew it, a highly-venomous Russell’s viper slithered across the road and within two feet of the partridges to photo-bomb the carefully-composed picture frame
When it comes to encounters in the wilderness, chance can spring a surprise leaving man, beast and bird equally frozen. Sukhwant S. Raj, a science teacher and advisor with the DIET, Roopnagar, inspects schools in the Shivalik foothills of Purkhali (Roopnagar). A wildlife photographer, Raj was focused on a covey of Grey partridges (francolins) foraging along a Purkhali road. Before Raj or the francolins knew it, a highly-venomous Russell’s viper slithered across the road and within two feet of the partridges to photo-bomb the carefully composed picture frame.
While three partridges scampered for cover, two were left frozen. The viper’s sudden intrusion was virtually over before it began. Raj could click only one memorable picture of the viper and partial partridges before the ghostly serpent dissolved into the camouflage of tawny bush. Though the viper does not pose a threat to adult partridges, being an adept, opportunistic predator the serpent can gobble eggs/chicks from the partridge’s ground nest. The two adult partridges nevertheless gained from the shock interaction. They are now aware of the viper’s territory, roving range and will ensure that in the coming spring they nest away from the fangs’ sway.
Once known for awesome biodiversity, including sandgrouse migration, Purkhali’s ecology has been stressed in recent times from VIP/NRI/celeb farmhouses, whose swanky ‘green’ lifestyle has even entailed the razing of protected hillocks.
Leaked poaching pics
A brace of photographs displaying the kills of a Himalayan Brown goral and Wild boars by well-heeled poachers has gone viral among a section of the officers of the Forests and Wildlife departments of Punjab and Haryana. The photographs, which were somehow leaked from the inner circles of the poachers, have set alarm bells ringing though legal action does not seem to have been initiated.
The four boars seem to have been shot with a rifle at night in the Shivalik foothills of either Punjab or Haryana using powerful searchlights mounted on jeeps. The goral is likely to have been shot in the Morni hills of Haryana as the Punjab Shivaliks report a negligible population of these wild goat-antelopes, which display an uncanny ability to dart around crags and race along eroding cliff faces. The poachers are suspected to hail from influential backgrounds and residing in the tricity. Poaching in the foothills has been facilitated by farmhouses mushrooming in jungle enclaves.
The rifle displayed by the poachers in one of the photographs is a sophisticated, imported one. Though a ban has been imposed on import of sporting weapons, national/international competition shooters are exempt. A number of competition shooters such as international golfer, Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Balraj Mehta, Prashant Bishnoi, Samir Thapar, Sarvdeep and Randeep Mann have been arrested for poaching or for offences committed under the forest laws/Indian Arms Act. Hi-tech weapons and ammunition imported under the pretext of competition shooting have not only been used for poaching by the owners themselves but sometimes even lent out further to their poaching pals, ie non-competition shooters.
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