Royal Bengal tiger's skin seized from Odisha's Similipal Tiger Reserve
BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch seized the skin of a Royal Bengal Tiger from the fringe areas of the national park during the wee hours of Wednesday.
This comes days after the poaching of an elephant followed by a subsequent attempt to cover it up by the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) staff triggered a huge controversy,
The STF arrested a 21-year-old man after it seized the tiger skin from Belpal under Udala police limits of Mayurbhanj.
Initial investigation suggested the big cat was possibly shot dead by poachers. "A gunshot wound was noticed on the seized tiger hide. The skin will be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun for a detailed examination," said STF DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj.
Sources associated with the operation said that 21-year-old Debasish Patra was lured into a decoy operation by the STF for the sale of the tiger skin. Well past midnight, a team of STF then nabbed Patra with the skin but two others, including the mastermind, managed to flee.
The tiger may have been poached in about a month’s time, say experts. The claws were intact on the skin which had not completely dried.
Sources also said that Patra could possibly have been a middleman who was waiting to hand over the tiger's hide to a customer when the raid was conducted by the STF.
The STF is making efforts to arrest the poacher, too.
Meanwhile, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) SK Popli said it would be premature to say the big cat was poached in Simlipal Tiger Reserve. "The matter will be jointly investigated by STF and the Forest Department," said Popli.
The recent spate of incidents including the poaching of elephants raised a question mark on protection measures in the tiger habitat.
In the 2018 tiger enumeration, STR had about 28 tigers.
This is the first time that the STF has seized a tiger hide in Odisha.
A case has been registered under Sections 379, 411 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 51 of Wild Life (Protection) Act.
The Forest Department recently formally arrested three of its suspended staff for allegedly covering up the poaching of a male elephant and burning its carcass to destroy evidence.