Forest officials in north Bengal have arrested a person in Jalpaiguri district for killing a bison (Indian Gaur). The incident occurred in Gorumara National Park, where the carcass of a bison was found in the forest on Wednesday evening. Forest officials deployed a sniffer dog to trace the culprits. On Thursday morning, a sniffer dog called Orlando took the forest officials to a house in Tilabari of Matiailli block, a few kilometres away from the site of the carcass of the animal. Raw and cooked meat was recovered from the house of Somra Munda. Mr. Munda was arrested and produced before a court in the district.
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Janmejay Pal, Additional Divisional Forest Officer, Gorumara Wildlife Division said that the accused had killed the wild animal for meat. A horn of the bison was also recovered from the house. The forest official said that the sniffer dog Orlando had been deputed only a few months ago. This was the first case for the Belgian Malinois dog.
The practice of introducing sniffer dogs to solve cases of wildlife crime has resulted in considerable success in different States of the country. These dogs, along with their trainers, are trained at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Ravi Kant Sinha, Chief Wildlife Warden of West Bengal, said that two sniffer dogs — Orlando and Shyana — have been deployed by the West Bengal Forest Department. While Orlando was sent to north Bengal, Shyana has been sent to the Sunderbans.
While there have been reports of poaching of rhinos in north Bengal, poaching of bison is relatively less common.
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