Odisha in denial over leopard poaching

Odisha has turned out to be a happy hunting ground for leopard poachers. The last seven months have seen nine leopard skins confiscated from across the state. Officially, at least three deaths have been recorded. The seizures and deaths have come not just from forests close to designated tiger habitats but also from other parts of the state. There exists a vibrant inter-state smuggling network because hides from Odisha have found their way to neighbouring states before being seized.

And most of it occurred when Covid-19 lockdown curbs were in place. Among the big cats, leopards are the most adaptable and found closer to human habitations. The spate of seizures signifies that poachers are more tuned in about their distribution than the Odisha government’s Forest Department.

The irony is most of the successes against poachers and smugglers have come from the Special Task Force, an anti-organised crime unit of the Odisha police’s Crime Branch. Needless to mention, the Forest Department has been caught napping. The core problem lies in not acknowledging the presence of these big cats outside the tiger territories since it entails more protection and conservation responsibility on individual forest and wildlife divisions.

That there is very little reliable data on leopard distribution is also a challenge because poachers, enabled by a thriving market, have found access to these areas and laid the trap. The biggest challenge, however, is that of denial on the part of the Forest Department itself. In the face of rising smuggling and poaching, which has led to a growing outrage among the green brigade, it has not bothered to even recognise it as a problem, let alone fix accountability on anyone. 

The same pattern can be seen in how the state has handled its elephant crisis. One of the biggest elephant-bearing states of eastern India, Odisha has turned into a graveyard of the gentle giants with a rise in poaching and mishaps caused in conflict zones. But the government has increasingly developed a thick skin to the issue. Hoping for a change when it comes to leopards could be expecting too much from it.