Show-cause notice to 4 forest staff for disposing animal body

24-07-2011
Show-cause notice to 4 forest staff for disposing animal body
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A range forest officer was transferred and show-cause notices were served to four staff members including a forester and three beat guards for allegedly disposing the body of a wild animal which had died in the Gir forest. "We have served show-cause notices to one forester and three beat guards to seek their reply in a case of disposing of a body of a (one to two months old) cub," DFO Manishwar Raja told PTI. Range forest officer J P Vadi, in whose area the incident took place, has been transferred from a field job to a desk job, Raja further said. On July 6, Raja had found ash remains of totally burnt animal cub in the Gir forest area of Dhari range. As per the rule, any death of any wild animal has to be reported to DFO for assessment of its cause of death, whether it was natural or otherwise. "However, for some reason, instead informing DFO, lady forester Mona Kachot and three beat guards burnt the body at the same place where it was found," sources in the forest department said. Forest officials have collected the remains and sent it to Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar to find out if the body was of a lion cub or a leopard cub, Raja said, adding that they are awaiting report from the FSL. Raja said that foresters and the three beat guards have been given 15 days time to explain their action and after their reply, action is likely to be taken against them. Gir is an abode of Asiatic Lions in the world, where as per the 2010 census, their number was more than 500