UOH wildlife faces threat of poachers

HYDERABAD: The vast and lush green campus of University of Hyderabad, which boasts of a large variety of flora and fauna, is fast becoming vulnerable to poachers. Sometimes even colluding with students and employees on campus, the poachers are eating into the wildlife population while the varsity authorities are yet to wake up to this menace.
Among the animals and birds poached in the past three years are deer, peacock, wild boar and even star turtles, all of which are found in abundance on the sprawling campus.
"We got complaints about poaching of deer and peacocks and had slapped cases on some employees of the campus. In our investigations, we also found that often students get involved in poaching," said P K Sharma, chief wildlife warden, Hyderabad. While the widely poached animal on campus is wild boar, he said star turtles from campus too were found to be traded off to buyers. Now the forest authorities are planning to take action, but first they plan to send notices to UoH authorities.
However, UoH authorities said that stringent action was taken against poachers in the past. "In an incident where children of some employees were involved in poaching, we had asked the families to move out of the campus. No instance of students getting involved in poaching or trading has come to the administration's notice. Stringent action will be taken against anyone who indulges in such activities," said E Haribabu, vice chancellor of University of Hyderabad.
It is not just poaching that is eating into wildlife on campus. Recently, stray dogs had killed a spotted deer on campus in spite of varsity authorities informing the municipal corporation to curb the dog menace on the campus.
Moreover, land alienation, which was going on till recently, had shrunk the flora and fauna on campus, experts said. "Encroachments have affected the campus eco-system. Foxes and some rare turtles were found on campus till over a decade ago. Now they are rarely sighted. Star turtles, which were found aplenty on campus, were captured and sold in black markets," said a senior professor.
According to a study undertaken by the plant sciences department of UoH, the campus has 80 bird species, 10 mam mal species and 15 reptile species.
They have also mapped the existence of 734 flowering plants on cam pus. Among them, 315 are used in tradi tional Indian medicines.
Officials of the forest department said they are asking the university authorities to deploy more guards. "As we are understaffed, the department cannot keep a day and night long vigil on campus.We have already informed UoH officials to report unlawful activities, including poaching," said Sharma.
Times View
It is shameful that poachers are ruling the roost on the campus right under the nose of UoH authorities. The government should take serious note of the situation and deploy armed guards to keep poachers at bay. It must also come up with a plan to protect the flora and fauna on campus.