In a major crackdown on illegal wildlife hunting, forest officials from the Karad range in Satara district seized a vehicle transporting seven live wild boars, allegedly meant for illegal slaughter and bushmeat trade.
Acting on a tip-off, a forest patrol team stopped a vehicle on the Kasarshirambe-Belawade road around 5 am on Tuesday. The inspection led to the recovery of the wild boars, along with hunting nets, gas cylinders, and three trained hunting dogs.
Nine individuals — Somnath Adake, Amol Mane, Sachin Khirsagar, Sagar Yalmare, Ganesh Nandiwale, Yogesh Kumbhar, Amol Nandiwale, Amit Adake, and Dattatray Dhone — were arrested.
Honorary Wildlife Warden Rohan Bhate said the accused admitted to capturing the animals from Rajegaon and Gavhandhadi villages in Beed district’s Majalgaon taluka. The wild boars were intended to be slaughtered and the meat supplied to buyers in Sangli and Kolhapur. One of the accused also holds a licence for domestic pig slaughter.
It is said that the wild boars might have been captured from the forest areas near Majalgaon dam. Sources from the forest department are also investigating where the wild boars were to be slaughtered and which other cities or locations the bushmeat was intended to be supplied to.
The hunting dogs are specially trained to chase wild animals out of the forest and towards the nets set up by poachers. According to wildlife officers, wild boar meat fetches about Rs 240 per kg in the illegal market, with local hunters and farmers paid between Rs 70 and Rs 100 per kg for captured animals. The accused have been booked under multiple sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and remanded to four days of forest department custody.
“The illegal hunting and trade of wild animals is a serious crime. Strict action will be taken against anyone found poaching, illegally transporting, or trading wildlife,” said a forest department official.
The operation was led by Deputy Conservator of Forests Amol Satpute (IFS), with support from ACF Jayashree Jadhav, RFO Lalita Patil, and the rescue team headed by Rohan Bhate.
