After the establishment of National Crime Control Coordination Committee led by the forest minister two years ago and central-level and district-level wildlife crime control bureaus, authorities have geared up activities to control crimes related to wildlife. [break]
"Controlling illegal trade has become possible due to effective coordination between the security agencies and others authorities. We will continue such efforts," said Krishna Prasad Acharya, Director General, DNPWC.
The government has already formed such bureaus in twelve districts. Each bureau comprises representatives from district-level government offices concerned and security agencies.
The department has said it is currently working to set up similar units in seven other districts. Districts have been ranked for prevalence of crimes related to wildlife and the units work accordingly.
A meeting of the crime control bureau has also decided to use modern technology and sniffer dogs to track down peachers . "Last year a drill was carried out in Chitwan National Park using Nepal Police dogs and it was found very promising, so we are planning to use this method in the future," added Acharya.
Nepal is one of the transits for the trade of wildlife body parts from India to China. Also, poaching of wildlife inside the country has become a major headache for the wildlife authorities with limited resources to fight the crime.
"Although we have been working with limited resources, we have found that our coordinated efforts are much effective so the department is enthusiastic about controlling the crime," said Dr Maheshwar Dhakal, ecologist at DNPWC.