By SANTOSH MOHANTY
A disturbing report has surfaced that over 100 Royal Bengal Tigers(RBTs) have either been poached or died due to ailments in different wildlife sanctuaries in India last year.
According to data available by Wildlife Protection Society Of India a good percentage of RBTs perished due to poaching, but it stressed that death of majority of the big cats were natural. The report said Madhya Pradesh has incurred the bad name by registering deaths of as many as 32 RBTs last year.
In the case of Odisha, although the agency has not given any adverse report on casualty status of RBTs, the recent disappearance of the only tigress from Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul district has not gone down well with nature lovers and environmentalists alike. As the surveillance cameras fitted inside the sanctuary could not capture the footage of the tigress since three months ago, nature lovers are apprehensive that the big cat is no more.
However, Saroj Panda, DFO, Angul Wildlife Division, is hopeful that the tigress has not gone anywhere nor missing and it is premature to come to a conclusion that the animal has died or killed.
Recent reports suggest that poachers are active in Similipal National Park in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. The Special Task Force team have seized hide of leopard from two poachers who admitted that they have been killing the animal for selling their skins at lucrative prices for quite some time.
According to National Tiger Conservation Agency (NTCA), the poachers have resorted to killing of leopards as the number of tigers are dwindling. The report said as many as 23 hides were seized in Odisha in the past nine months. The NTCA report further said that during 2012-2020 as many as 857 RBTs died due to several factors including poaching.
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