Similipal National Park and Tiger Reserve. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 5: From an elephant haven to a poachers’ paradise, the reputation of Similipal National Park and Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district has taken a beating following a series of elephant killings within its area during the past year.

In the latest scandal to rock Orissa’s largest wildlife sanctuary, three female elephants were poisoned to death in Karanajia division of the sanctuary yesterday, sending forest officials into a tizzy.

The poachers, who are believed to have trapped the animals, including a baby, with poison-laced food, also cut away the posterior of the oldest elephant.

“We need to take serious steps to deal with the problem. The good thing is that we are getting the support of the district administration,” said Similipal field director Anup Kumar Nayak, who has sent a three-member team from his office to the spot, which is 20km from Jasipur in Mayurbhanj district.

“Thanks to the administration’s support, a five-member forensic team has also reached the spot. The viscera report will tell us what kind of poison was used to kill the animals,” said Nayak.

This is the second incident of elephant poaching to take place in the park this year. In February, three elephants were similarly poisoned by poachers in the sanctuary that is spread over 845.70sqkm, triggering widespread concern about the safety of its resident wildlife.

Last year, 10 elephants had been killed in and around the park under suspicious circumstances prompting environmentalists to accuse the authorities of being hand in glove with the poachers. The park at present has around 450 elephants.

Incidentally, Similipal is one of the few wildlife sanctuaries in the country where the local tribal people engage in ritual killing of animals every year. Known as akhand shikar (mass hunting campaign), the gory ritual takes place between April and May when tribal people armed with guns, bows and arrows plunge into the protected forests of the sanctuary slaying animals virtually at will.

Although a sustained campaign by the government and the NGOs has, to an extent, succeeded in curbing the blood lust of the tribal people, they continue to be a big threat to the wildlife in the sanctuary.

“That being the situation, it is easy for poachers to kill elephants in the park,” said an NGO activist.

Earlier, in July this year Jairam Ramesh, the then Union environment and forests minister, had urged Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene and initiate steps for the protection of the park.

The stretch of forest, including Similipal Reserve Forest, which is spread over an area of 2,750 sqkm was declared as a ‘tiger reserve’ on April 12, 1973, under the ‘Project Tiger’ scheme of the central government. It has already been conferred with legal status.

However, after Maoists entered the park area, it has become a difficult task for the Orissa government to keep a tab on the movement of poachers.

In a letter to Naveen, Ramesh had said that a small contingent of Orissa’s armed forces needed to be deployed in some of the villages on the fringe of the core zone.

“This needs to be done, especially in those villages which have the tradition of akhand shikar. The frontline staff of Similipal should be provided with firearms (as done in other reserves in the country) with necessary training by the local police. The entry and exit points, besides traditional pathways leading to the reserve, should be manned by armed frontline staff,” Ramesh had stated in his letter.