14 May 2010 07:45 am
Two dogs have helped expose a massive timber racket near the Moragahakanda reservoir where more than 500 valuable trees were found razed to the ground. However the authorities have not taken action to nab the culprits, residents in the area said.
According to residents in the area the timber racket has been going on for some time but was exposed only after the two dogs alerted the residents and led them into the thick jungle. Journalists who visited the area were also led by the dogs to the site where the trees wee cut.
The owner of the two dogs, a paddy cultivator of the area, was the first to notice the illegal felling. “My two pet dogs Jema and Singithi had followed the racketeers to the location, returned to my hut and pulled me by my clothes making a strange noise wanting me to follow them. When I did follow them I found the trees all cut,” the owner of the dogs said.
He said he had raised the matter with the Bakamuna police, the Divisonal Seceretariat and the Forest Conservation Officers, but to no avail. (Daily Mirror online)