December 12, Bandipora: The Forest Protection Force (FPF) in the Bandipora district of north Kashmir is beginning to exert control over the poaching operations that were rife a few years ago, inflicting significant harm to the migrating birds, including some that were listed as endangered.
Aijaz Ahmad Pajwari, Deputy Director of the Forest Protection Force, Bandipora, informed Greater Kashmir that while the agency began conducting operations in Wular Lake in 2010, the findings were not very compelling.
“The department has expanded its presence in and around the lake area for nearly three years, and it has had significant success in putting a stop to poachers, who were previously very common here,” the official said.
In roughly two and a half years, the agency has taken possession of 11 punt guns from poachers in addition to various other tools intended to catch the avian visitors, Pajwari said, reflecting on the department’s anti-poaching activities.
It contains the largest punt gun, which on December 7 was taken from poachers in the Wular Lake region by the department.
According to Pajwari, legal action had been taken against the individual in question, who was being held.
He said, “The punt gun measured 9.3 feet in length.” “It is official that poaching in Wular Lake has decreased since the two checkpoints were established at Sangari Top and Ajas.”
The squads’ only mission, according to him, was to monitor the poachers; he claimed that this had paid off and that the operations had been completely taken over.
Though there were a few cases of poachers striking, Pajwari said that the department was watchful and that the attacks had little effect.
The winged visitors were thriving, according to the locals in Zurimanz, after the attack on the poachers.
The lake’s migratory bird population is now spectacular to see, particularly in the winter, according to local fisherman Farooq Ahmad Bhat.
He said that almost everyone in the area was against hunting migratory or endangered bird species because of the detrimental effects of such activities.
