Nepal Army (NA) has started the “Hot Operation” to control poaching in the Bardiya National Park in the district.

Security personnel from the Ranasardul Dal Battalion stationed in the park to protect wildlife and natural resources started the operation after receiving information that poachers entered area to set up traps and hunt protected animals.

Officials at the battalion informed that the operation was initiated along the banks of the Karnali river after four tigers were killed in the area within the past one year. Three teams of soldiers, each comprising 20 personnel, are deployed in the area.

The army officials said they will surround the suspicious areas and destroy the traps. They said they have also planned to control activities of poachers in buffer zones, bio-corridor and other areas of the park. The park’s Chief Conservation Officer Ramesh Kumar Thapa said the NA will continue the operation in future. He said the operation will help arrest 200 suspected smugglers who are at large after poaching wild animals in the park.

As part of the operation, the soldiers will patrol in the area on rafting boats, cycles and on foot.