5 poachers arrested from Debrigarh Sanctuary, 10 horns seized, earlier a tiger was killed

Sambalpur: Forest department has arrested 5 hunters who were hunting in Debrigarh sanctuary since Friday morning. Forest officials seized horns and other weapons from them. An 18-member patrolling team of the Hirakud Wildlife Department was conducting night patrolling in the sanctuary when VHF received information about the movement of the poacher from Khajuria area. They immediately searched the area and arrested 5 accused from the Chowrashimal section in the middle of the sanctuary.

The arrested accused are Sushil Bagh (28), Hrishikesh Pradhan (25), Panchanan Padhan (24), Mukesh Bhoi (22) and Shantanu Sahu (32) of Runipali village near Bhatli in Bargarh district. The accused barged into the sanctuary on Thursday night to hunt and collect the horns and skins of wild animals like sambar, deer and wild deer. 10 summer horns filled in a sack, 5 big bags, 5 big knives, 2 axes, two motorcycles, wires etc. were seized from them.

Significantly, last year, leopards tiger claws, cow skins etc. were seized from the same place. The accused who were arrested that time have been caught this time as well, said DFO of Hirakud wildlife, Anshupragya Das. In other words, the accused in both cases are the same. All five accused have been arraigned on Friday.

Notably, the only tiger spotted in the Debrigarh sanctuary was killed and buried by poachers in the palmy area. At that time, the forest department tried its best to hide the incident. Shubhendu Mallik, head of the snake helpline and wildlife conservator, came to Debrigarh and revealed the incident. No further evidence or information of tiger’s presence has been found in Debrigarh since then. But this forest has a large number of wild Buffalo, Sambar, Chitra Deer, Wild Barha and leopard.

Regular hunting and illegal trade of wildlife parts are also taking place in this forest. While some people living inside the forest are involved in poaching, many people from the surrounding areas are involved. They collect animal horns, nails, teeth, leather etc. from here and sell them to the mafias of Chhattisgarh. It is exported by them to the market outside the state. DFO Ms. Das informed about the various measures taken by the forest department to control the hunting and killing of wild animals.