Two persons were arrested for poaching monitor lizards in the Ponnaiyar Reserve Forest (RF) near Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai in the early hours on Sunday.
Forest Department officials said carcasses of seven monitor lizards, explosives, a two-wheeler, nets, torchlights and batteries were seized from them.
The officials found a group of men inside the RF at around 4 a.m. on Sunday, during a routine patrol. When the men saw the officials approaching in a jeep, they tried to escape on the two-wheeler, leaving their things behind. However, the forest team rounded them up.
“They must have been poaching in the area regularly as they had with them all things needed to hunt small animals, slice the meat and then sell it to clients in big cities. They used hunting dogs to hunt down the lizards,” N. Srinivasan, Forest Range Officer, Sathanur dam range, told The Hindu.
The accused are, P. Micheal Alexander, 32, A. Wincent Raj, 24, and A. Thangamani, 27, who is still absconding. All of them are from Thandrampattu village, located along the fringes of the RF. The suspects had procured explosives from Kerala for the hunting. They poached wild animals to supplement their incomes from farming, the officials said.
A case has been registered under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The duo were produced before a local court and sent to 13 days of judicial custody. They are now lodged at the sub-jail in Chengam town.
