With Rana’s death Bandipur Tiger Reserve personnel lose their teeth
2 min read
Gundlupet: If Bandipur Tiger Reserve Forest looks greener with a check on illegal activities, it’s not just due to the efforts of forest personnel, but also a four legged guard.
Rana the most fearless German Shepherd breed dog was a true green warrior who protected the tiger reserve forest for seven long years, ever since he was inducted to Karnataka Forest Department in 2015.
His milestone achivements span the borders of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the illegal activities are rampant with poachers targeting the wildlife in an unabated manner.
Rana was three year old when he was inducted as a sniffer dog to add teeth to foresters in protecting the flora and fauna. Since 2016 upto 2020 Rana had the credit of tracing many wildlife crimes and tiger deaths, especially the carcass of perilious poaching of popular tiger Prince at Bandipur Forest.
Rana joined Karnataka Forest Departmemt in 2015 after a pilot project funded by World Wildlife Fund and Traffic organisations.
Rana was trained for nine months at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and he was the first sniffer dog to join Karnataka Forest Department.
Special Tiger Protection Force’s green warrior Prakash was the handler of Rana.
Rana detected the crucial tree smuggling cases including high value sandalwood. He had helped to nab poachers and solved a sandalwood smuggling case in Srirangapatna and in 2017 tracked those who had escaped with the claws of Prince, a popular male tiger of Bandipur Tiger Reserve. Likewise Rana had detected the perpetrators in 15 cases.
Nagarahole National Park tiger paoching case in 2020 was a challenging case for foresters and it was yet again traced by the team inlcuding Rana. The then union minister for Forest and Environment Prakash Jawadekar had even lauded the operation.
Elusive Tiger operations in Gudlur in Tamil Nadu is a geographically tough task. Rana traced the dangerous tigers and helped in creating a fearless atmoshpere at the region.
On Tuesday Rana passed away due to natural causes at Bandipur Safari camp at Melukamanahalli.
Bandipur Tiger Reserve personnel draped the carcass of Rana with tri-colour, before bidding adieu to the four legged guard.
– Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
