Bhubaneswar: Poachers and wildlife traffickers continue to target Odisha’s protected species with scant regard for law and little fear of punishment, with the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) alleging failure of intelligence, enforcement and prosecution mechanisms.
“Not a single tiger or elephant poacher in Odisha has served a jail sentence for the crime. Most arrested offenders secure bail within weeks and return to the illegal trade,” charged WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty Saturday.
The recent discovery of five orangutan infants abandoned in a Baleshwar forest has highlighted the scale of the problem. The animals, native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, were found thousands of kilometres from their natural habitat September 8. The smugglers responsible have not yet been arrested, the WSO secretary said.
A similar mystery surrounds seven Asiatic black bear cubs found near Bhubaneswar in April 2021. The species is not native to Odisha, yet the case remains unresolved six years later, according to the organisation. The WSO said these cases were only “the tip of the iceberg”, alleging that the Wildlife Wing has failed to develop effective intelligence networks to detect trafficking syndicates.
Odisha’s native wildlife is also under mounting pressure. The WSO said Satkosia, which had an estimated 12 tigers in 2007, recorded zero tigers in the 2022 census, despite substantial spending on protection and patrolling. The killing of the reintroduced tiger Mahavir by poachers in 2018 further exposed alleged gaps in protection.
The seizure of three tiger skins, including two melanistic skins, from the Similipal landscape in the past two years has added to concerns over anti-poaching enforcement. The organisation also pointed to a stark disparity in leopard data.
While Odisha’s leopard population was estimated at 696 in 2024, more than 170 leopard skins have reportedly been seized, compared with 71 recorded leopard deaths over a little more than 11 years. The WSO said the figures suggest ed that many killings could be going undetected.
Stating that elephant poaching remains equally serious, Mohanty pointed out that 316 elephants were killed by poaching between April 2010 and March 2025, while more than 120 tusks were seized over the past decade.
Pangolins and freshwater turtles are also being trafficked on a large scale, with more than 75 live pangolins, over 120 kg of pangolin scales and more than 11,000 freshwater turtles seized in recent years, according to Mohanty.
The outfit further said the repeated seizures, unresolved cases and absence of convictions pointed to a systemic failure of intelligence gathering, enforcement and prosecution. It urged the state to treat wildlife crime as organised crime and strengthen detection, investigation and prosecution so that poachers and traffickers face effective punishment.