Trichy: Following incidents of poaching being reported during Pongal near Thuvarankurichi last year; special teams have been formed to step up vigil during the festival this year.Poaching of small animals was a traditional practice in the name of ‘Pari vettai’ during Pongal and some of the villagers living close to reserve forest areas are still practicing it.Rabbits, squirrels, Indian grey mongoose, fox and monitor lizard are some of the soft targets during this occasional poaching activity. Punishments for hunting these animals include a fine of Rs 25,000 or three to seven years of imprisonment under the wildlife protection Act 1972.Forest department had, On January 7, arrested two people for poaching a two-foot-long monitor lizard – a protected species under schedule I of the wildlife protection Act 1972.The accused were identified as T Murugan, 22 and M Hariharan, 22, both hailing from Srirangam. While there is no past history of the duo on poaching, they claimed to have poached the animal for meat.“On many occasions, poachers are not repeated offenders but local villagers carry out poaching only during such festivals in the pretext of following age-old tradition,” said district forest officer, Karur, A Anbu.Saying that mobile numbers are being circulated among people to inform the forest department if they come across such poaching incidents, Anbu said poaching has come down over the years primarily because of the punishment and sensitization drives.

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