Disturbed over rampant poaching of elephants and involvement of professional hunting tribes from Arunachal Pradesh and poacher gangs from the North East, the State's Forest Department has requested the Crime Branch to investigate into these cases to curb the menace.
Inspector-General, BK Sharma is reported to have said that the Crime Branch was likely to take up investigation of the poaching cases.
According to sources in the Forest Department, the department would not be able to track the poachers since professional gangs from outside the State were involved in the crime.
Wildlife activist Biswajit Mohanty has pointed out that more than 50 per cent of the 42 elephants that died from April to November in the State were due to poaching. Within a span of a week, at least five elephants have been killed.
A tusker was found dead with its tusks sawn off in Purunakote forest under Satkosia range last week, while the body of another male elephant with gunshot wounds was recovered from Mahulikhulia forest in Sambalpur district the same day.
The carcass of another tusker was found in Kuldiha sanctuary in Balasore district.
Yet another elephant was found dead in Atei reserve forest under Ghatagaon range in Keonjhar district early this week, while the body of a jumbo was recovered from Kushumara reserve forest in Sundargarh district.
There has been a sharp decline in the elephant population over the years. The number of elephants has come down from 2,044 in 1979 to 1,639 in 2005. The fall in the tusker population is more alarming, their number having come down to 271 in 2005 against the figure of 363 in 2002.
During the last 16 years, as many as 214 adult elephants have been killed either by bullets or by electrocution, official reports said.
The spurt in tusker poaching indicates an increase in the demand of ivory in countries like Japan and China.
