A 10-year-old girl, from Tama Village in Zhemgang, is being treated at Yebilaptsha Hospital, after her right thigh was partially mutilated by a snare-trap.
On August 1, the girl was running away from dogs, when she got caught in the trap laid just behind her house. The spear from the trap pierced her thigh. It was 6 PM.
Weary of wild boars attacking her crops, the girl’s mother had asked a road worker to lay the trap on a footpath behind her house.
The road worker has been slapped with a fine of Nu 5,000.
Jigme Singye National Park’s officials at Tingtibi, who investigated the case, say the man was penalized for failing to inform them before laying the trap. Forest and Nature Conservation Rules, 2006, mandates people to inform the authorities concerned and the villagers.
“The trap was set on a footpath which the rules prohibit,” said a Park Ranger, Phuntsho. He said people are allowed to set traps in their registered land but the officials or the villagers will have to be informed.
The park officials also raided the offender’s house and seized all the materials for snare-trap and warned him not to repeat the offense.
If found flouting the rules again, the offender will have to pay double the fine or the case will be forwarded to the court.
