Kendrapara: Rampant and unabated poaching is posing severe threats to wildlife in Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP) under Rajnagar forest division in Kendrapara district, sources said Monday. This has happened due to the lack of any punitive action against the poachers who had been earlier arrested by Forest department officials. The sources alleged that rules are there to punish the poachers but those are not being implemented. As result there has been a substantial decrease in various species of animals in BNP and this development has affected the forest’s biodiversity.
Forest department officials have arrested over 400 poachers in the last two decades but none of them were convicted. It has been alleged that officials after arresting the poachers do not make proper efforts to prove the charges in courts for which they go scot-free after a brief tenure in prison. Recently officials arrested four poachers on charges of straying into the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary and poaching deer and wild boars. Every year, an average of 30 such cases are registered, but no action is taken against the offenders, sources said.
Wildlife expert/lawyer Sushree Kumari Nayak said that these poachers, once released, again continue to kill animals. The inability of the Forest department to prevent witnesses from turning hostile also contributes to the release of poachers from prisons. Sources said that officials are also guilty of not taking the fingerprints of the poachers or registering the cases under relevant sections of the Arms Act. These deficiencies help the poachers get an early release from jail. Environmentalists apprehend that if poaching is not stopped then it may threaten the wildlife and bio-diversity in the Bhitarkanika sanctuary. Environmentalists Hemant Kumar Rout, secretary of Marine Turtles and Mangrove Conservation Committee, Lakshmikanta Swain, Subhash Swain, and local intelligentsia Ganesh Chandra Samal and Radhakanta Mohanty informed that two poachers were arrested on charges of killing four birds in Bhitarkanika in 2015 and six persons were arrested in the last five years for hunting reptiles and deer.
However, the poachers have been released by the courts as the Forest department failed to prove the charges against them. The environmentalists pointed out that if stringent punishment is handed to the poachers it will create awareness among the people. Poachers are now having a free run in Bhitarkanika which has over 200 marine and wildlife species.
Every year, hundreds of wild boar, rabbit, deer, turtles, snails, horseshoe crabs, crocodiles, monster lizards, and snakes are either caught or killed and smuggled outside for money. The poachers use various methods to kill or capture the animals. They use snares, nets, and hunting dogs to poach wild boars, deer, and rabbit, sources said. When contacted, DFO Sudarshan Gopinath Yadav said the protection of wildlife is of utmost importance and Forest department officials are working on it.