Chamarajanagar: In order to the control the growing menace of poaching, smuggling of precious trees and curb other criminal activities, the Forest Department has roped in Belgian Malinois to guard the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and other four Tiger Reserves across the State.

The Forest Department has roped in 10 female Belgian Malinois which have completed their training under the watchful eyes of the experts at the ‘Sniffer Dog Training Centre’ at Bandipur.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Conservator of Forests (Mysuru Circle) S.S. Ravishankar said, “Currently, we have completed the training for the first batch of dogs. Following the training, they have been distributed among all tiger reserves in the State. The Department has selected Belgian Malinois to be the guard dogs as they are the best sniffer dogs in the world. In one of the cases, we used the services of Belgian Malinois which gave a positive lead and we were able to solve the case which prompted us to procure them for the tiger reserves.”

Belgian Malinois are among the highly regarded dog breeds across the globe. They are known for their extreme work driver, high intelligence and fierce loyalty. They are also among the top choice for Police and Military work.

With the completion of training Belgian Malinois, the Forest Department has handed over them to five tiger reserves located in the State – Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Chamarajanagar), Bhadra Tiger Reserve (Chikkamagalur), Nagarahole Tiger Reserve (Mysuru-Kodagu), Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve (Uttara Kannada) and BRT Tiger Reserve (Chamarajanagar).

Earlier, the Forest Department had a team of German Shepherds that guard the tiger reserve. Among them, ‘Rana’ and ‘Drona’ played crucial in protecting the forests from crimes.