Bhadra Tiger Reserve, Karnataka, November 28, 2019: The protectors of the wild, the frontline staff of the forest department are often shorthanded and ill-equipped while the take over the mammoth task of protecting our wild flora and fauna. Taking advantage of this often poachers and hunters carry out illegal activities while due to being ill-equipped the forest guards/frontline staff are unable to catch/detect their presence. One such incident happened during the New Year celebrations of 2017. A group of young guys most of whom were techies working in the IT sector from Bangalore set out to celebrate their new year with a wild hunt. They succeeded in killing a wild sambhar when they had camped out in the forests. But the department which already got a whim of the situation was tracking them. They were caught the next day at the Kemmanu Gudi gate. While talking to one of the forest guards about the operation, he said it was possible because they had wireless systems using which the team on the field quickly informed the team on the check post and the poachers were caught before they could escape. One can see the difference which being properly equipped can make in case of frontline staff in the forest department.

With such an aim to make a difference in the ease of carrying out operations in the field as well as training the frontline staff, Wildlife Trust of India conducts training for the frontline staff under its Van Rakshak Program. The training was conducted from 25th -27th June 2019 for three days. The training session was inaugurated by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Chikmagalur, Mr Vijay Mohan Raj with a lamp lighting ceremony. On the first day of training, all the guests, trainers and forest staff were welcomed by Mr Venkat Naidu with an introductory speech and formal introductions after which Mr Vijay Mohan Raj delivered the inaugural speech on the importance of Wildlife Crime Control Techniques and practices and how they play a crucial role in Wildlife Conservation. Then Mr Venkat gave the outline of the training and explained its importance emphasizing on the need, objectives and the various aspects that would benefit the participants. A pre-training test was conducted post the lecture by Mr Venkat Naidu thus concluding the first session. The post-lunch session was a field practical session that was jointly conducted by Mr V.G. Bandi and Mr Srinivas. A mock crime scene was created which was to be investigated by the participants. Participants were divided into teams. They investigated the crime scene accordingly and prepared the preliminary investigation report for the crime scene. Following this, all the teams were evaluated by the trainers and they were accordingly told about their mistakes and about that correct steps and procedures that should be followed.

The second day of the training started with a small recapitulation session by Mr Venkat. This was followed up by a session on Wildlife Forensics by Mr Srinivas wherein he explained and discussed a few relevant case studies of wildlife crimes. Mr Mahadeva Murthy took the next session where he discussed the various hunting practices and other such activities related to wildlife crime. Post lunch another practical session took place. This time the participants had to investigate a crime scene where a ballistic weapon was used. Shreds of evidence like the snare, machete, the gun having fingerprint were put into the crime scene. The purpose of such activity is to ensure proper crime scene investigation in the future. The participants took an active part in this field session, they found many areas where they lacked the technical expertise and learned a lot from the trainers. Trainers taught them new and effective ways of interrogation and also taught them to register cases and make a good seizure memo.

On the final day of the training, Mr V.G. Bandi took a session on legal aspects of WPA and the legal provisions that can be used for immunity and protection by forest department officers. It was followed up by a session along with a subsequent field visit by Mr Mahadeva Murthy on about various hunting practices adopted by wildlife criminals. After that, a post-training test was conducted and training kits were distributed among the participants concluding the training.

WTI has been conducting such Wildlife Crime Prevention Training programme under its Van Rakshak Project (VRP) since 2001. Over 17100 frontline forest personnel have been trained in over 138 Protected Areas across 18 states. VRP follows a multi-pronged strategy with four thrust areas abbreviated as TEAM: Training, Equipping, Awareness and Morale Boosting, to build capacity and strengthen the spirit of personnel in severe field conditions.