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Odisha forest guard, 35, shot dead by poachers in Similipal tiger reserve
Regional Chief Conservator of Forest of Similipal, Prakash Chand Gogineni said the combing operations are continuing and two suspects have been taken into custody
A 35-year-old forest guard was shot dead late by a group of poachers late on Monday in Odisha’s Similipal tiger reserve, people familiar with the matter said.
Bimal Kumar Jena, who was assigned to the Baunsakhal beat of the reserve’s Nawna range, was on patrolling duty in the bordering areas of the Pithabata south range and Nawna north range when he came across a group of poachers. Officials said he was seizing their weapons when one poacher shot him in the chest. Jena died due to the gunshot injury on the spot.
Forest officials told the Bangiriposi police about the incident.
“The combing operation was going on at Pithabata south range and Naana range when the incident happened. We have identified 10 suspects of which two have already been arrested. One country-made pistol has been seized from their possession. Combing operations underway in Samilipal by five joint teams of Forest & police personnel,” said Regional Chief Conservator of Forest of Similipal, Prakash Chand Gogineni.
Union environment and forests minister Bhupender Yadav condoled the death in a post on Twitter. “Saddened to share that forest guard Shri Bimal Kumar Jena was killed by poachers in the Similipal Tiger Reserve of Odisha. Jena died in the line of duty trying to protect India’s wildlife. We remain indebted for his sacrifice. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”
Wildlife activists said the forest guard’s death exposed the state of affairs at the tiger reserve. “The reserve is not safe for either tigers or elephants as the prey base has gone down due to regular poaching,” wildlife activist Biswajit Mohanty said, underlining that the number of tigers in the reserve had declined from about 100 in early 2000 to 26 in the 2016 all-India estimation of tigers.
Similipal has also reported 11 elephant deaths since 2019 including four in 2021-22.
On January 21, the decomposed carcass of an elephant with its tusk missing was found in the reserve. On September 20, 2021, forest officials seized a leopard skin and arrested two suspected poachers from a hotel in Baripada town near the reserve.
In December last year, three forest officials of the tiger reserve were arrested for burning the carcass of a tusker in the core area. A 20-year-old tribal protection assistant who witnessed the destruction of evidence was beaten and poisoned to death allegedly by the officials.
In the course of a hearing on a petition on elephant deaths, justice S Muralidhar of the Orissa high court in December last year pulled up the state forest department. “Please give us some idea about the preventive measures that can stop elephant killings. Please don’t give us a bureaucratic response,” the bench told the chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Manoj Nair.
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