Sadness pervaded the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Tuesday as the beloved sniffer dog, Hoffer, who had played a pivotal role in detecting and preventing wildlife crime in MTR and surrounding forest divisions, died suddenly. The five-year-old dog, a Belgian Malinois, joined the fight against wildlife crime in the tiger reserve in November, 2016.
It was donated to the tiger reserve by TRAFFIC, India, an organisation working to prevent the illegal trade in wildlife. Since then, Hoffer, who was a very popular figure among forest staff in the reserve, helped crack a number of crimes and even helped the police find a person who had gone missing inside a forest in Masinagudi.
“Hoffer has had a highly distinguished career as a sniffer dog in MTR. He has helped crack a case involving the trade of animal parts in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, was used to nab sandalwood smugglers in Coimbatore, assisted police during vehicle checks at border checkposts and recently was involved in looking for clues at a wildlife crime scene where two tigers had died under mysterious circumstances,” said K.K. Kaushal, Field Director of MTR.
Hoffer had also almost single-handedly helped the police find a person who had wandered into a forest patch in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in 2018, officials said.
N. Rajendran, Forest Range Officer, Theppakadu Range, who had looked after Hoffer for a couple of years, said the dog had fallen sick and needed veterinary treatment a couple of years ago for a liver problem. “I got a call in the morning from another ranger who was taking care of Hoffer, and we both immediately tried to take him to the veterinarian. Unfortunately, Hoffer passed away on Tuesday morning despite our best efforts,” said Mr. Rajendran, who added that the guard and watcher who handled Hoffer, Vadivelu and Sivakumar, were heartbroken at the sudden death of the animal.
A postmortem was done to ascertain the cause of death, and officials said that it seemed likely that Hoffer died from liver failure.
Forest department staff buried Hoffer in a small grave near to the kennel where he lived for most of his life. The beloved sniffer dog was given a guard of honour as he was laid to rest in the tiger reserve he spent his life protecting.
