Dharti Rakshaks Of Melghat

Protecting wildlife and its habitats through GPS-based patrolling, tracking poachers with the help of sniffer dogs, conserving water in the forests till the summer months, catalysing the rebirth of grasslands – a forest guard wears many hats. Here are three extraordinary stories from the Melghat Tiger Reserve.

- Rizwan Mithawala

AATIF HUSAIN, 28

“Dikh gaya to maar diye… ke aaj shaam ki sabzi ho jaati (If spotted, they kill, thinking this is tonight’s meal),” Aatif Husain says, the strains of despair evident in the young man’s voice. He is narrating an incident where an Asian palm civet was bludgeoned to death with sticks and stones, in a territorial forest village in the Chikhaldara taluka in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. This was a case of opportunistic hunting for consumption; just one of the many motives that drive poaching in Maharashtra. Aatif is part of a mobile squad (also called a dog squad), which includes him and Jayni, a female German Shepherd trained to detect wildlife parts and products, and to track and identify poachers. Working as a team since 2015, the duo has cracked 19 cases of wildlife crime.