Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Dr DK Sharma on Saturday said that the forest department personnel did not find any bird carcasses at Udaipur's Sukh Sagar Lake in Tripura's Gomati district.
According to Sharma, the local Gram Pradhan has told the forest personnel that there were dead birds over a hundred in numbers floating on the lake and adjacent low-lying croplands."We have seen the videos and photographs but after day-long exercises by the local forest officials, we could not find any sample to conduct tests and ascertain the reason behind this mass killing or hunting whatever it is called," said Sharma.
Speaking to ANI, the PCCF also informed that forest personnel shall continue their exercise to trace the dead birds. Since Friday morning, forest department teams have been pressed into action at various parts of the village where the incident has taken place.
The forest department has also issued a telephone number so that people can contact them if the hunters could be identified or any information regarding the dead birds is worth sharing. The department during their awareness campaign also specifically mentioned the penalties sanctioned under various sections of cruelty against animal and forest acts.
The bird carcasses were found on January 27 at Udaipur's Khilpara area. Later, District Forest Officer Mahendra Singh visited the spot and ordered a probe. But, the way the carcasses mysteriously disappeared from the spot shocked the forest department as well as the villagers.
Some sources in the forest department that it could be an act of the predators who snared the birds in a death trap in the first place and on sensing trouble they disappeared the dead birds to destroy evidence.
Meanwhile, the PCCF urged the local people to not consume dead birds, if found.
( With inputs from ANI )
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