BHUBANESWAR: Strange are the affairs with the Forest Department of the State. Instead of going after wildlife smugglers, its officials from Bhatli Range under Bargarh dfo on Tuesday went after a decoy team of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) which had carried out operations and seized a huge amount of illegal items.
It was only after the intervention of Additional PCCF (Wildlife) PK Mohan that the local forest staff made amends for their mistake.
The two-member WCCB team not only seized 34 pairs of hemipenis of the monitor lizard but also recovered an Indian python from a person who was carrying it from Chhattisgarh to Odisha.
Sources said the team of WCCB, an arm of the Ministry of Forests and Environment and Climate Change, had tip-off about the smuggling of the hemipenis which is sold off as ‘hatha Jodi’ in these parts of the country.
Tailing the information, the team managed to zero in on the person in Ruchida under Bargarh Division. However, the seller left the animal parts as well as the python and fled. The items were seized and handed over to Bhatli Range.
Hours later, the team worked on a second intelligence input about antlers being sold in Lakhanpur area under the same range office jurisdiction. The WCCB team engaged an informer as a decoy buyer who traded the deal and about 30 kg of antler were bought as part of a deal. However, local forest officials reached the spot and instead of arresting the seller, they took the decoy team member into custody.
“The WCCB team explained the whole situation to the local forest staff but they would not just pay any attention. Instead of taking action against the seller, the man who was posing as a buyer was taken away,” said honorary wildlife warden Suvendu Mallick who was part of the team. Earlier in May, a joint team of
WCCB and Crime Branch of the Odisha Police had busted an online trading of the hemipenis in Bhubaneswar and recovered 210 pairs of the male sexual organs of the monitor lizards. ‘Hatha jodi’ is said to be a plant root used in tantric practices but actually, the animal organs are pushed in its place given the striking similarity of appearance.
Later in July, the two agencies jointly exposed similar smuggling of ivory, leopard skin, bear nails and 153 pieces of pangolin scales from in Bargarh district which has turned into a haven for the smugglers from Maharashtra, MP and Chhattisgarh.
Pangolin hunting and smuggling have turned into a huge trade in Western Odisha given its proximity to Central India but the local forest authorities have been mute spectator to the exercise.