Dogs to protect trees

Dogs to protect trees
Deccan Chronicle

Bengaluru June 4: The Karnataka forest department is set to retain the fragrance of sandal in the city. Sandalwood trees are facing the danger of being smuggled in the very city which is best suited for the growth of this species of trees. The department has initiated a plan of action to safeguard sandalwood trees in the city. As a first step, the urban forest division has taken up enumeration programme of sandalwood trees situated in nearly 50 green pockets of the city. “The numbering of trees are to be done at the IISc campus and Institute of Wood Science and Technology. About 12 teams have been formulated and each team will complete the enumeration programme in three pockets.

“Once we have the data base of sandalwood trees in and around the city it will help in cracking down the poaching cases,’’ Dr U.V. Singh, conservator of forest, Bengaluru Circle, told this newspaper. Last week, the urban division was provided patrolling vehicles which will be used exclusively for sandalwood theft prevention. A dedicated dog squad to check sandalwood cutting and smuggling is also in the pipeline. The department is waiting for the nod from the new government.

“Its evident that the smugglers from Tamil Nadu are active in and around Bengaluru. The department is trying to eliminate the very source of poaching. A special team comprising forest officials from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, assisted by police, will raid the Pulidukote village in Salem district, which is believed to be the hub of sandalwood smugglers. Many of them figure in the FIRs registered by the department in Bengaluru,” Dr Singh added.
That is not all. The sandalwood tree, which is protected as the state tree will have a metal-tree guard wrapped around up to five mts.

The department has already installed nearly 100 tree guards in “Gandhada Kote” guest house in Sadashivnagar and Aranya Bhavan in Malleswaram. Since the tree guards are said to have been protecting the tree effectively, the department is now asking private institutes to install tree guards so that poachers can be kept at a bay. “We have received request letters from various institutions to remove sandalwood trees from their campus since the trees have been attracting the smugglers. Since trees in these institutes are not fully grown, we have asked them to retain them by installing tree guard. It costs about Rs 6,000 per guard and a tree which is worth Rs 1 lakh,” said a senior forest officer.