BANGALORE: Tigers in Karnataka can thank their stars. For, the state reserves with high tiger density will soon get a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF).Come January 4, 2012, and the force will patrol the tiger belts to protect the felines from poachers and smugglers. The STPF is being constituted under the direction of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) based on the recommendation made by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). Working towards this effect and complying with the direction, Karnataka is the first state to form the STPF, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) B K Singh told Express.The STPF team — a first of its kind in the nation — will be fully funded by the MoEF, and will comprise an Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), three Range Forest Officers (RFOs), 14 foresters and 40 forest guards.“14 foresters and 40 forest guards will be completing their 13-week commando training from the Police Training School, Yelahanka, on January 3, 2012, and will be deployed a day later. As per the MoEF’s direction, an STPF in Karnataka was sanctioned only for Bandipur Tiger Reserve, but we are planning to deploy a few trained foresters and forest guards to Nagarahole and Biligiri Rangana Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (BRT), which too has high tiger density. In a couple of years, we will set up an STPF for the state’s other four tiger reserves,” he detailed.Elaborating on the STPF training procedure, Singh said, “During the 13-week training, the foresters had to undergo training in physical training, unarmed combat, training in weapons, field engineering, map reading, disaster management, first aid, and crowd control management.”“According to the records of forest department, three and two tigers fell prey to poachers in 2010 and 2011 respectively,” Singh informs.According to the 2011 tiger census, the six major tiger reserves in Karnataka house 300 out of the total 1,700 tigers in the nation, making it the most tiger dense state.
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