During the recently concluded Melagiri Bird Census we came across this macabre scene. A dead Bonnet Macaque was dangling on a fine wire noose attached to a bamboo fence and another barely alive macaque was writhing in pain with terror written on its face. The situation was appraised quickly and the anti-poaching watcher and the forest guard accompanying us deftly removed the noose from the macaque’s neck and saved it from certain death. The bamboo fence was the boundary between the Anchetty reserve forest (under Manchi beat) and adjoining fields where tamarind awaited collection. We observed that the the entire bamboo fencing was affixed with wire snares. The snares were deceptively set-up like they were binding the bamboo poles together. Totally, we destroyed more than ten wire snares within a span of fence measuring two metres! Tamarind is a coveted produce which is also collected in the reserve forest but when it comes to competition the licencees are unscrupulously ruthless!
View the exact location where this was recorded: https://goo.gl/maps/bzzTg.
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Chosen as 'Picture of the Week'
Wire snares are silent, deadly, cruel and used rampantly. They are also cheap and virtually invisible, making them among the favourite tools of hunters.