: Chhattisgarh Engineer Quits Job To Battle Tiger Poachers; Clears 100s of Traps #IndiaNEWS #Chhattisgarh One evening in February 2018, M Suraj and four other members were closely monitoring tiger movement

Chhattisgarh Engineer Quits Job To Battle Tiger Poachers; Clears 100s of Traps #IndiaNEWS #Chhattisgarh
One evening in February 2018, M Suraj and four other members were closely monitoring tiger movement through trap cameras from a room in Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve when bad news struck. A person from the village rushed to them with a newspaper that showed a tiger skin confiscated by the forest department authorities.
It only took moments for the team to recognise that it was the same male tiger who was missing for months.
“The tiger, Bhushan, was a fully grown adult of about 10 years. We were observing his movements for the past couple of years, so the strips of the wild cat, which act as identification marks, were known to us by heart. We assumed that he wandered to another tiger corridor… It was difficult to comprehend that he was hunted down,??? says 30-year-old M Suraj, a conservationist working to protect the wildlife in Chhattisgarh.
Suraj and his team went into a state of shock with few members also shedding tears. “We had a special attachment with the animal,??? he explains. However, after a few weeks of grieving, Suraj learnt that the tiger had fallen prey to a trap laid for wild pig and was shot down by poachers in the chest.
“The poachers were arrested with the tiger hide but the incident helped me realise the major steps needed for wildlife conservation,??? he says.
Since 2018, the conservationist with the teams from Wildlife Trust of India, state forest department and David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation has searched 300 locations of the reserve and confiscated over 150 animal traps while destroying bigger, wooden traps on the spot.
Empathy for wildlife
Suraj started conservation efforts with rescuing snakes
Suraj has always been sensitive to wild animals. And for that reason, he chose to quit his job as a lecturer in an engineering college and enter wildlife conservation.
The former mechanical engineer graduated from Durg in 2011 and pursued a comfortable job as a lecturer. On his way home one day, he saw a snake beaten to death. “This moved me so much that I decided to quit my job and rescue snakes. However, along with snake rescue operations, he slowly connected with similar groups to save spotted deers, hyenas, monkeys, leopards and birds in the tribal-dominated forest area,??? he says.
Continuing the work, the man started working in tandem with the state forest department authorities. “We interacted during rescue tasks and many times the department officials sought help to save wildlife in distress,??? he adds.
During one such occasion in 2016, Suraj met the then Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Alok Tiwari who was impressed with his work. “The officer asked if I’d spend all my life rescuing snakes or would I like to do something else too.

Stock Market NEWS Best intraday tips Intraday Stocks below 100