File picture of a tiger in the Simlipal reserve forest

Baripada, July 12: Security in the Similipal Tiger Reserve has been further strengthened with deployment of the Special Tiger Protection Force consisting of 63 armed forest guards, who have undergone rigorous training in the use of weapons.

The guards, who have been deployed at Udla, Talabandha and Gudgudia, are working under the supervisions of three sub-range officers. All below the age of 40, their primary duty is patrolling the buffer zone of the tiger reserve.

Around seven months ago, the forest had procured two sniffer dogs, a German Shepherd and a Labrador, for ferreting out smugglers and poachers from the core area of the sanctuary. Trained in Madhya Pradesh, they also have the ability to detect poison.

Bhanoomitra Acharya, an honorary wildlife warden based in Mayurbhanj, said: “A special additional force for the security of the Similipal Tiger Reserve had been a long-time demand.

These guards were recruited after the Centre approved the state’s recommendation in this regard.”

Field director of the sanctuary Anup Kumjar Nayak said the tiger reserve was the third wildlife sanctuary in the country to receive the central approval for recruitment of special tiger protection force. Two others are in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The central government will pay for their salaries, vehicles and fuel charges.

“On receiving the Special Tiger Protection Force, the Similipal Tiger Reserve has augmented the existing security. We have already supplied new vehicles to the concerned forest ranges except one. The guards are doing armed patrolling mainly in the buffer zone after training in their respective areas,” said Nayak, adding that recruitment of 18 foresters as part of the protection force was also on the cards.

Similipal is one of the largest sanctuaries of the state with wildlife, including tigers and elephants, to boast of. However, the sanctuary for the past sometime has been in news for the poaching of elephants.

At least 10 elephants have been killed in the sanctuary in the past one-and-a-half years. Similipal is also notorious for the annual hunting ritual of local tribal people called Akhand Shikar when tribal hunters indulge in random killing of wild animals.