Hyderabad: The wildlife wing of Telangana forest department has set up four quick reaction teams (QRTs) to deal with human-animal conflict, and trap and tranquillise tigers, leopards, sloth bears, and other wild animals.So far, only one team stationed at the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) has been handling this responsibility. With the new arrangement, four teams will function across the state. One will continue at the NZP with a veterinarian, and each team will be equipped with a veterinarian, six support staff, a vehicle, a specially built cage for transporting tranquillized animals, and a dart gun for immobilisation.According to chief wildlife wing officials, another team will be stationed at the Kakatiya Zoo in Warangal under the control of the chief conservator of forests (CCF), Bhadradri Kothagudem. A third will be based in Mannanur of the Amrabad Tiger Reserve under the supervision of the tiger reserve director, and the fourth at Mancherial of the Kawal Tiger Reserve, also under its director.“So far, four cycles of training were conducted. Trainers from Amravati and Yavatmal (Maharashtra) trained select forest department staff. Initially, the staff were trained to use air guns, followed by tranquillizer guns. The primary objective of these teams is to tranquillize any wild animal that strays into human settlements, mitigate conflict, and safely translocate the animals back into their natural habitats,” said the forest officials.According to chief wildlife warden Elusing Meru, earlier the lone team at NZP often had to travel up to 200km. Now, with the four QRTs, each will be responsible for its surrounding region, enabling quick and better conflict management.
