Wildlife Society of Orissa

Wildlife Society of Orissa

Akhand shikar or ritualistic tribal hunting is an age old practice in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve. Thousands of tribals from peripheral villages with bows,arrows and spears descend upon the Park to hunt deer, sambhar and wild boar. As a result, tigers are deprived of their prey base.A wandering dance group performs a tiger dance to explain why the tiger needs to be saved.

Banyan tree seedling being planted. We are protecting 80 old banyan trees and fencing has been done to protect the hanging roots from goat grazing. It was found that grazing lead to the stunted development of hanging roots. Due to failure of hanging roots to strike the ground, banyan trees collapsed in large numbers during the super cyclone.We are grateful to the Rufford Foundation for support.

school meeting for banyan trees at panchmile

A meeting of school children under an adopted banyan tree at Panchmile village. We organize meetings and distribute posters, brochures and stickers to educate the local community about the banyan tree. Quiz competitions and meetings are organized in schools to educate students about the need to protect them.

Field surveys are regularly carried out by the Society. Featured here is a fresh water whipray (Himantura chaophyra) reported for the first time by Mr.Biswajit Mohanty from the Devi river. We have also reported two new records of birds(Himalayan yellow billed blue magpie and Tree sparrow) and one record of the Himalayan Hoary bellied Squirrel from the state.