KAPILVASTU, Dec 23: A gunfight broke out between poachers and forest guards as the hunters entered the Tilaurakot Collaborative Forest for poaching.

Divisional Forest Office, Kapilvastu said that the clash took place on the bank of Balundra River on the north side of the East-West Highway on Thursday afternoon after the hunters met with the forest team on patrol from Sub-Division Forest Office, Gorusinge.

Upon hearing gunshots, the patrol immediately summoned additional teams from Gorusinge and encircled the group of hunters. The poacher team, consisting of 12 to 14 individuals armed with 3/4 guns, fired 6/7 rounds into the air. In response, the patrol team discharged 5 rounds of aerial fire, causing the poachers to flee.

The patrol team surrounded and detained 39-year-old Jung Bahadur Periyar, resident of Banganga Municipality Ward No-7 Dhaireni dada, of the same group.

He has been handed over to the local police office Gorusinge for necessary action. In recent times, forest conservation work has progressed in the Tilaurakot Collaborative Forest area and biodiversity has increased as forest fires have decreased.

Jay Prakash Pandey, Chairman of Tilaurakot Collaborative Forest Consumer Group, said that with the increase in biological diversity in the forest, the risk of poaching has increased.

The number of wild animals like leopard, deer, wild boar, junglefowl, peacock etc. has increased in the forest. Bijayraj Subedi, Chief of Division Forest Office, Kapilvastu, said that this is the first incident in the forest area in the last two years and the hunters may have gone to hunt wild animals. He said that monitoring will be increased in the forest area.

 
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• poaching