Two platoons of armed police will be deployed in the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha, informed Mayurbhanj SP Varun Guntupalli.
The armed police will work with Forest Department officials to conduct joint patrolling and flag marches in sensitive villages near the STR to counter poaching activities.
This move follows the recent seizure of a rare melanistic tiger’s skin and other body parts, unique to the Similipal landscape. Forest officials seized these items from four individuals in the fringe villages of STR last Sunday. Earlier, six others were apprehended in Balasore district with the same tiger’s claws. In total, ten people have been detained in connection with the death of the melanistic tiger. The poachers confessed to killing a one-and-a-half-year-old tiger, according to STR field director Prakash Chand Gogineni.
The STR, located in Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts, is the only known habitat for these rare black-striped tigers, with an estimated population of 13.
To combat wildlife poaching effectively & protect the region’s biodiversity, police are coordinating with forest officials for joint patrolling and flag marches in sensitive villages near the Similipal Tiger Reserve. Two platoons of armed police force are being provided to forest officials. Each platoon comprises 30 personnel.
Police Eastern Range DIG Satyajit Nayak highlighted that specially trained armed police forces will assist forest personnel in Balasore and Mayurbhanj forest divisions. Around 40 officers in Mayurbhanj and 50 in Balasore’s Bagudi range have received armed training for this mission.
