Arunachal’s D Ering Sanctuary authorities file FIR against unknown hunter

PASIGHAT: Acting on a social media photo received by Arunachal deputy chief conservator of forest (wildlife & BD) Millor Tasser in which a person is seen carrying a gun along the river side was stated that the hunter was hunting inside the D Ering Wildlife Sanctuary, the authorities of the sanctuary lodged an FIR against the unknown hunter at the Sille-Oyan Police Station yesterday.

The FIR was initially lodged at the Sille-Oyan Police Station but the concerned police officer transferred the case to Pasighat Police Station as the possible place of hunting as per the photo’s background appears somewhere in and around Partung and Pillumukh areas.

In his FIR, Orin Perme, range officer in-charge, Anchalghat Wildlife Range said some mithuns are also seen in the background of the photo alleged to be a hunting incident in D Ering Wildlife Sanctuary, but there was no such case of open mithun grazing inside the sanctuary unlike in Partung under Pasighat Reserve Forest area just opposite the Pillumukh Wildlife beat of Anchalghat Range of the sanctuary.

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After lodging of the FIR, Perme informed that the gun carried by the unknown person is an airgun which can be clearly seen from the butt of the gun which confirms that the person alleged to be a hunter didn’t go to hunt inside the sanctuary, as a hunter entering the sanctuary for hunting would never hunt deer or other animals with airgun, rather he will need a SBBL/DBBL or .22 gun or a rifle to kill animals.

Moreover, it also appears from the closed up photo that there has some traditional fish catching traps, locally called porang, where the man with a gun is seen which indicates the person was in the Pasighat Reserve side just opposite the D Ering Wildlife Sanctuary, western bank of the part of Siang river where open fishing even by blasting/dynamite blast, open hunting, including community hunting of animals and birds take place, added Perme.

“However, we are not taking the case lightly and will continue investigating the same departmentally also so that we could zero in on the unknown person to prevent any possible hunting inside the sanctuary,” added Perme who had also lodged an FIR against the unknown person killing a pair of Ruddy Shelducks that appeared in a newspaper recently.

When asked about the case, DFO wildlife Tasang Taga said he received the photo with a message from DCF wildlife, Itanagar stating “hunter is entering D Ering WL Sanctuary”.

“I had requested him to share the source of the photo for necessary investigation, but he didn’t share. So, I directed the RFO to investigate the case seriously by departmentally and also by police, as such cases of hunting need to be taken up with firmed hands to secure and protect the wildlife of the sanctuary effectively,” added Taga.

Meanwhile, initiating preliminary enquiry into the case, Pasighat police led by SI Kari Pertin contacted Tasser for providing the source of the photo shared to him by some people, but the wildlife officer has not shared the source to the investigating police officer.

“When we contacted DCF wildlife to share from which Whatsapp individual or group did he receive the hunting photo, he was reluctant to share the accurate source. Rather he said of getting the photo from some Facebook post but he failed to mention the exact post and group,” added Pertin while assuring to continue the investigation from the local level.

A team of wildlife conservationists reached out to the traditional fish catching trap layers from Sika Tode village who further informed that the particular location where the a person with a gun as shown in the WhatsApp photo was from Moralali Beat area river side under Pasighat RF.

"We reached out to the particular place of river side with the help of local traditional fish trap layer in Moralali area where a man was shown carrying a gun in a photo which was claimed by DCF wildlife as hunter inside D Ering Wildlife Sanctuary, but it was found misleading as the reported place was far away from boundary of D Ering Wildlife Sanctuary," said Orin Perme, range officer in-charge, Anchalghat wildlife range today.