Tribals kill adult wild boar

Baripada, Apr 27 (UNI) An adult wild boar was found dead on the banks of Saan-Ghaghra Nullah, 75 km from here on the fringes of Simlipal Wildlife Sanctuary.

The animal had been shot dead by a small group of five tribal shikaris yesterday, who had sneaked into the sanctuary through untrodden path, forest department sources said.

Wild boar is a protected species and finds its place in the graded schedule of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972 Forest officials said a small tribal group, armed with four country-made guns and six sets of bows and arrows came from the neighbouring Katuria-Mahalisahi village under Kaptipada range.

They killed the wild, hefty, male wild boar and cut it into two pieces with the help of a sharp weapon called ''Tangia''.

On receiving the information, a team of forest officials, led by Kaptipada Range Officer Ashoke Kumar Biswal, rushed to the spot and arrested one of the five shikaris and seized four country-made guns and six sets of bows and arrows from his possession.

The remaining four ''shikaris'' managed to flee under the cover of night. After an autopsy, the wild boar was buried in the backyard of the Kaptipada forest range office.

Mr Biswal said all the four tribal hunters had been identified and would be nabbed soon.

The arrested ''shikari'' was produced before a local court at Udala and was remanded to jail custody.

UNI XC DP LL SW AS1737