A major bid to hunt a leopard inside Odisha’s Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary has been thwarted following a coordinated, two-day crackdown by forest officials and local police, resulting in the arrest of two suspected poachers.
The accused, identified as Ghanshyam Mirdha (40) and Suprasad Sui (48), both residents of Rautpada village in Baragada district, were apprehended by Lakhanpur Range authorities and produced before a court on November 11.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs, a joint team comprising roughly 70 armed personnel from the Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary authorities and Baragada district police launched extensive search operations on November 10 and 11. The raids covered five villages situated along the sanctuary’s periphery.
During the sweep, officials recovered a cache of poaching equipment, including animal traps, cages, two bundles of hunting nets, approximately 3 kg of electric hooking wires, and 2 kg of cable wires. According to forest officials, the duo had already laid traps inside the protected forest area as part of a plot to poach a leopard. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Anshu Pragya Das confirmed that both suspects have been forwarded to court, while investigators are probing whether the pair had been involved in prior wildlife crimes.
To bolster community-led conservation and deter future offences, sanctuary authorities have announced a cash reward of Rs 1,000 for anyone providing credible, actionable information regarding wildlife poaching, assuring that the identities of informants will remain strictly confidential.
Meanwhile, the Forest Department has intensified surveillance across the sanctuary’s fringes. Officials noted that teams are deploying metal detectors and electricity-detection devices to scan border areas, suspecting that poachers may be concealing weapons and electrocution gear in adjoining villages. Regular patrolling and intelligence-driven operations have also been stepped up to safeguard the sanctuary’s wildlife.
