Tuskers in the forests of the Western Ghats are facing the biggest threat since sandalwood smuggler Veerappan’s men changed the elephant sex ratio two decades ago. Ivory hunters arrested by the Kerala forest department have confessed to mass poaching of elephants — 33 confirmed killings and an estimated toll of 80-100 in the last 18 months — in the state and the adjoining forests of Tamil Nadu. Five smugglers and poachers, arrested last month by the Kerala forest department and the anti-Naxal division of Tamil Nadu, admitted that their...
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