The Wildlife Society of Orissa has demanded protection for wildlife of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve.
Wildlife Society of Orissa secretary Biswajit Mohanty has urged the Minister for Forests and Environment to take immediate steps in this regard.
He has drawn the attention of the authorities to the rampant poaching in Simlipal, especially in the Baripada Division. Poachers enter the core area with impunity in Kaptipada, Pithabata, Dukura and Udala ranges as there is not enough security. As a result, the tiger reserve is imperiled, it said.
It said earlier the Simlipal authorities were extra vigilant during the Makar festival when mass hunting (Akhanda Shikar) begins and also took the help of the police department while simultaneously carrying out awareness programmes to keep the potential hunters engaged. These activities appear to have been stopped this year, it said
Citing an instance, it said that in November last, there was a report about how poachers fired at a hopelessly ill equipped protection unit and entered the core area of the sanctuary near Bhanjabasa in the Upper Barakamuda (UBK) Range.
In the first week of December, an adult male Sambar was found struggling to survive with an arrow stuck to his body in the Podadiha section of the Udala Range.
Expressing concern, it said the Simlipal authorities had absolutely no idea about the poaching and trade activity of a notorious wildlife trader whose house at Padmapur in the Jashipur Range was raided by Jharkhand police recently
It appears that crores of rupees being generously provided by the NTCA every year for patrolling and protection is of no use to save the park’s wildlife. Today one can see that the management of Similipal is in shambles. Unless enforcement minded officers with adequate knowledge about wildlife are posted there, Similipal would soon see poachers taking over the park, it said.