GUWAHATI: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) along with the police and forest officials busted an illegal deer farm at Dengaon under Dokmoka police station in Karbi Anglong.A senior WCCB official here said during a joint operation on Wednesday, four barking deer, including a fawn and a carapace of a tortoise, were seized from the house of a contractor at Dengaon."The barking deer was found in the compound of the house. We had intelligence input about the farm. It seems the compound was used for illegal farming of deer," the official said.The house belongs to a contractor by the name of Mangal Sing Rongpi who was not present at the time of the raid. "Rongpi later contacted us and assured that he would cooperate with us in the probe," the official said.A veterinary team from the Bokakhat-based Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) was called to tranquillise the deer. The animals are under observation at CWRC.Earlier this month, a WCCB-led operation busted a country gun making hideout and arrested two persons from Jogota Pahar, also under Dokmoka police station, about 127 km from the Kaziranga National Park, a world eritage site.WCCB officials said the guns were used for poaching animals when they take shelter on the highlands of Karbi Anglong from the flooded plains of Kaziranga.They said there is a possibility of these guns being supplied to poachers in the nearby Jakhalabandha area in Nagaon district to kill wildlife during floods."We have stepped up vigil along with the police and forest officials to check crime in the pockets of Karbi Anglong bordering Kaziranga.The official added that the busting of the racket could be one reason why there was no poaching of wildlife, especially rhinos, this season after they came out of Kaziranga during the floods and took shelter on the highlands of Karbi Anglong.

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