Jamshedpur, March 19: Most poachers in the state go scot-free, as a large number of cases reportedly go unregistered due to lack of security personnel at the time of the offence or lack of proper evidence.

According to a forest department official, poaching of animals in the state forests is not under proper control as the existing manpower is not enough.

In most cases, the offenders outnumber the forests department officials who tend to back out as they sense trouble or apprehend threat to their lives, the official added.

Vishnu Kumar, forests and environment secretary told The Telegraph that poaching in the state is under control. ?There was a problem with staff shortage. But by and large things are under control,? he said.

The absence of adequate forest officials manning the dense forests in the state enables the poachers to rule the roost and make merry in the forests.

According to Justin Imam of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), it is the deer that are primarily targeted by the poachers across the state.

Imam pointed out that during Phagun Shikar, Sendra and other tribal festivals, it is the deer that are slaughtered and feasted upon on a large scale by the villagers.

Sources said in most cases no action is taken against the offenders, who are many and hence difficult to identify. Imam, who has done work on poaching, said these deer are normally killed for meat and not for their skin or horns.

However, the police think otherwise. According to additional superintendent of police S.K. Jha, there have been cases of sale of animal skin in the vicinity of the steel city.

He said the sold skins are primarily used for decoration and ruled out their use in footwear industry.

While in 2005, just one case of seizure of tiger skin from one Ismail Baba was recorded by the police in Sakchi, animal skins were seized from an electronic goods dealer in Golmuri. The sources said in the recent past 15 kg of elephant tusk was seized at Sakchi and added that even elephant jaws are sold in the market. Those dealing in the trade do it under the cover of some other business, which is just for show, said a police official.

While poaching of leopards, according to Imam, is scarce, there have been a few cases of elephant poaching primarily for sale of tusks in the state reported from Palamau and Saranda forests but none of the cases have been reported due to lack of proof.

At least six tuskers were killed within a period of six weeks in October and November, 2003, alone. All the killings were reported from Chaibasa and tusks from four animals were missing.

The villagers, officials say, could have killed the elephants to avenge the killing of people and damaging property. More than 250 people have been killed in the past three years by elephants in the region.

Regarding tiger poaching, the officials said in Palamau Tiger Reserve, cases of tiger poaching was reported in the recent past.

The sources said tigers, leopards, bison, monkeys and pythons have fallen prey to the poachers. While cases have been registered, convictions in such cases are still unheard off, primarily because of lack of evidence, they said.