BHUBANESWAR: The Wildlife Wing on Thursday suspended the range officer of Nuwana South under the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in connection with the alleged mass poaching of elephants. Chief Wildlife Warden Janardan Dibakar Sharma, who had proceeded to STR to personally inquire into the incident on Monday, said the suspension order had been served on the officer for dereliction of duty.After three deaths were reported from the Nuwana South Range, Sharma found instance of a fourth death during his inspection.Barring one, in the rest cases, the Forest officials had found burnt remains buried in different places prompting them to seek DNA investigation. The skeletal remains will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, for DNA testing, Sharma said.Since the Wildlife Wing is still in dark about how the ‘poaching’ occurred, the DNA test is expected to throw light on what the species were, their age and other genetic details.However, what has put the Wildlife Wing in a spot is how the poaching went unnoticed. Given the state of decomposed remains, most of the deaths, prima facie, appeared to have taken place a month back or maybe, even much before.While the Wildlife Wing is still unsure if the skeletal remains belonged to elephants, the way the animals were disposed of has raised question marks.“Burning and disposing of a 3.5-tonne elephant __ three of them __ are no mean task. And burying them is even more tougher. If the animals were elephants, such incidents should not have escaped the notice of the field officials,” Sharma said.However, a problem with the DNA testing could be the length of time the examination takes in the Dehradun-based institute. In 2010, a series of deaths were reported in STR and the Wildlife Wing sent samples for examination to WII but the reports are yet to be received. The Wildlife Wing has an alternative in Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) for conducting the DNA tests.DOG SQUAD: Meanwhile, the Wildlife Wing is also planning to raise a dog squad to strengthen the wildlife crime investigation in the State. Taking its cue from Jharkhand, where the Forest Department has got its own kennel squad, the State now wants one for it.“The State Police have one but they cannot spare the dogs. Besides, we have to train the canines in wildlife crime detection matters too. We will soon have one of our own,” Sharma said.
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