As a wildlife enthusiast and lover of the Indian elephant, I cannot thank enough the producers of Poachers (Amazon Prime), the mini series that highlights the poaching menace in Indian forest reserves. Slick and sharp, the episodes are to the point and cannot come crisper. Not a single minute of sag. Real life story. Before I proceed, all round applause to Nimisha Sajayan, who plays the Forest department cop attached to Kerala state. She is backed by a very well cast crew including the ones who play the roles of Neel Banerjee Kerala state wildlife director, and Alan, a part-time wildlife dept staff and IT person. Its heartwrenching watching this series, but is a must for wildlife lovers around the world. Following some elephant pages in social media, it was heartbreaking for me even recently to note the tragic poaching of three wild tuskers who towered to the skies, within the Amboseli national park range in Kenya, Africa. India is a natural elephant country so we know what it takes to have the wild elephants roam about our forest corridors. India without her elephants is unimaginable. I have covered quite a few reviews in my blog on wild life and especially on elephants/Indian elephants. Its no open secret that the ivory contraband smuggling goes hand in hand with underground mafia dealing in dope and/or arms. Its in national interest to see to that the nexus is thwarted. Funding terror can only be the next step away.
About Poachers, I have done this copy & paste job from Google:
The series is based on the real-life events of “Operation Shikar” that unfolded between 2015 and 2017, spearheaded by the Kerala Forest Department. Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) assisted in the investigations along with the police and others who risked their lives to unearth India’s largest poaching syndicate.
This article also may be of interest in this regard:
My takeaway from the series is the knowledge that ivory is also used to make small trinkets to instill interest in (new) (fresh) buyers hoodwinking law enforcement in broad daylight. This may be done by honing/sharpening the tusks of the temple elephants or elephants in captivity. Such a pruning of the domesticated elephant tusks may yield just enough shavings to cater to small buyers. There must be artisans devoted to the crafting art with the promise of a small/discreet market. Ultimately this may lead to sustained interest and big buyers who may be collectors of the exotic. So the only way to stop the tusk pruning of the tamed elephants is that, they may have to be let loose in the wild. NO MORE TEMPLE ELEPHANTS, NO MORE ELEPHANTS IN CAPCIVITY, NO MORE ELEPHANTS FOR ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. Destroy the ivory as and when found. China, needless to say, is the first and worst international ivory market. When buyers create a demand, a supply chain can possibly be established especially in weaker territories. Its one tough job out there for our forest department officials.
It was shocking to note that the big Ambani pre-wedding party had a prop of an elephant – drumbeating about the virtues of Vantara at the same time. How hypocritic. Vantara will be zilch investment luxury forest safari lodge for the who-is-who of India, no more. Very clever Ambani marketing. Looks like they took over 200 ailing elephants for the project from all across India. Anyone who loves wildlife, will never do this:
vijiravindran's 