Massoumeh Ebtekar, the head of Iran’s Department of the Environment, has announced that one of the poachers who attacked two forest rangers with knives and an axe has been arrested and the others are being pursued.
Ministry of the Environment officials in Golestan Province previously had reported that the assailants had been identified and police and security forces had been enlisted to arrest them.
On Friday, two rangers in Nohor Forest were alerted by the sound of a gunshot and, upon approaching two shooters, were later attacked by eight individuals. The assailants attacked the rangers with knives and axes and fled the scene.
Poacher attacks in protected parks have become a serious problem for Iranian forest and park rangers in recent years. Last year, four rangers in Kurdistan were killed by poachers.
