Sniffer dog Rana of Bandipur Tiger Reserve passes away

'Rana', a popular member of the dog squad of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, which helped in cracking several forest crimes, passed away on Monday night.

The nine-year-old German Shepherd was ill for the past one week. The forest department personnel had treated it at the veterinary hospital in Gundlupet. It suffered from diarrhoea and died on Monday night, according to the officials.

The forest department had inducted the dog into its team in 2015. Rana, who was trained for 11 months at Bhopal, was a nightmare for the poachers.

Rana was used to detect forest crimes, not only in Bandipur, but also in Nagarahole and Kodagu. The dog was capable of detecting crimes that were not possible for the officials, it is said. It used to sense the movement of wild animals from a long distance, and was used while rescuing tigers.

As Rana was nearing its retirement age, the officials brought a Mudhol breed puppy to replace the dog. It was trained to detect forest crime along with Rana.

The department has decided to conduct the last rites of Rana with government honours on Tuesday.