Even as their role in busting many cases of poaching and homicide can’t be overlooked, Simba and Nero, the two unsung heroes of Forest Department are reported to have been deprived of their prescribed diet.

 

Being the only squad, Nero and Simba have to travel long distances to assist forest staff or police in investigation of serious cases. Yet, the Forest Department reportedly has replaced the prescribed meat per day with a vegetarian item, which means taking away the most important source of protein from the diet.

Raipur-based wildlife enthusiast Nitin Singhvi told The Hitavada that the prescribed diet of each dog per day, includes 680 grams of meat, wheat porridge/rice 480 gm, green vegetables 230 gm, milk 1180 ml, two eggs and tit-bits 500-600 gm.

The canine team stationed at Marwahi Forest Division were procured from Hyderabad and trained at the National Training Center for Dogs by Border Security Force (BSF) in 2016. These highly trained Belgian Malinois dogs have played crucial role in solving cases of poaching/hunting as well as untangling the complicated cases of homicide for Mungeli Police Station.

Ever since the induction of dogs, Forest Department has succeeded in solving many high-profile cases of poaching and hunting. With their immense sniffing power, Forest Department has recovered pelts of elephants, tigers, leopard in Dhamtari, spotted deer poisoning, leopard killing in Dhamtari, recovery of elephant tusks in Balrampur, Surajpur and so on.

These dogs have also assisted Mungeli Police in cracking cases of homicides at Kota, Lalpur and Lormi, to name a few. These dogs are so well-trained that they can lead to poachers, hunters or killers just by sniffing a small

tuft of hairs.

Forest Department doesn’t even earmark a separate budget for the diet of these dogs. They just leave it on the handler to feed them and then put up the vouchers for reimbursement, which came after four years.

Ever since the induction of dogs in 2016, Forest Department reimbursed the handler only once on October 23, 2020. Considering the usefulness of sniffer dogs and the over-burden on Nero-Simba, Nitin Singhvi even wrote to Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar, requesting him for procurement of a dog squad for each National Park, Tiger Reserve, Sanctuary and forests with a lot of poaching activities. In his letter, Singhvi pitched for the dog squads, citing the success of Simba and Nero in bursting many cases of poaching and homicide. However, an expert told the Hitavada that Chhattisgarh may need one dog squad in each Forest Circle.

 

Responding to the question regarding dog squads’ diet, Range Officer Hitesh Kumar Thakur refuted the reports and said Nero and Simba are getting the diet which was recommended by National Training Center for Dogs.