By Pillalamarri Srinivas

Copyright deccanchronicle

Adilabad: The specially trained sniffer dog ‘Hunter’, a 10-and-a-half-month-old male Belgian Shepherd, is creating panic among wood smugglers, tree cutters, and poachers in the Kawal Tiger Reserve in erstwhile Adilabad district.Forest officials are hopeful that incidents of poaching, tree felling, and wood smuggling will decline with Hunter successfully tracing offenders. The department earlier had a trained dog, ‘Cheetah’, but it died recently. Traditionally, villagers in interior areas use local hunting dogs, known as Shikari Kukkalu, while venturing into forests for hunting antelopes, birds, and other animals. Now, in a twist, the forest department is using Hunter to trace the hunters. Hunter works by picking up the scent of offenders through their bodies, clothes, or tools when cases remain unsolved. Just a month after being inducted into the squad on August 11, Hunter achieved success. On August 13, forest staff sought its help to trace a tree-felling case in the Gonduguda forest beat, Jannaram mandal. Hunter picked up the scent from a shirt left behind and led handlers straight to Rathod Heeralal’s house in Juvviguda. On learning this, Heeralal fled on August 14, but the dog’s confirmation helped forest staff establish his role. A case was registered against him. Anil Kumar, Hunter’s main handler, and Parameshwar, assistant handler, both Forest Beat Officers, said Hunter is the only sniffer dog in Telangana trained exclusively for forest crimes. The dog underwent seven months of training from the age of 2.5 months at the National Training Centre for Dogs and Animals (NTCDA), Panchkula, Chandigarh, where the handlers also trained alongside it. Local villagers welcomed its role. Ramu Patel of Baharanghad, Dandepalli mandal, said it was encouraging to see Hunter solve the first case and create panic among habitual offenders. Hunter was also taken to Baharanghad to spread awareness against tree felling, smuggling, and poaching. So far, Hunter has been taken to nearly 26 villages in the core and buffer zones of Kawal Tiger Reserve, covering Nirmal, Mancherial, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, and Adilabad districts, to deter offenders. The dog stays at Jannaram quarters, follows a special diet, and undergoes morning and evening exercise under the handlers’ supervision. A dedicated Bolero vehicle has been allocated to transport Hunter, who, the handlers say, is always ready for deployment anywhere in the state on higher authorities’ instructions.