similipal national park

The Odisha government has declared Similipal as India's 107th national park, under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Located in the Mayurbhanj district, it is now Odisha's largest national park, covering 845.70 sq km. This designation aims to enhance biodiversity protection, preserve indigenous tribal heritage, and promote eco-tourism in the region, reinforcing Odisha's role in ecological conservation.

similipal national park in Odisha will close to tourists for two days starting Saturday due to heavy rain and thunderstorms in Mayurbhanj district. Regional Chief Conservator Prakash Chand Gogineni mentioned that the situation would be re-evaluated, and tourists might re-enter once the weather improves. Visitors are advised to check with authorities for updates.

Amidst lurking fear of Maoist terror, officials of the forest department in Orissa have already started fanning out into the dense jungles to undertake tiger head count from tomorrow, official sources said.

The Odisha government on Monday rushed a senior forest department officer to the similipal national park to probe into the alleged death of four elephants there.

The similipal national park in Mayurbhanj district will remain closed for visitors from Sunday till April 30 for tiger census, official sources said.

Armed with an administrative inquiry report, the state government on Thursday suspended a range officer in connection with the recent elephant deaths in similipal national park.

The similipal national park and Tiger Reserve in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district will reopen for tourists from November 9, official sources said on Friday.

A team of wildlife activists has found the remains of four elephants inside Odisha's similipal national park and suspect that poachers may have poisoned them.

The higher education department has sought the approval of the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) for implementing seven infrastructure development projects worth Rs 45 crore on the main campus of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University in Baripada.

The Nandankanan Zoological Park here, the first in the country to have zoo-born melanistic tigers, boasts of such a gene pool at three other zoos in Ranchi, Chennai and Indore.

A guard was burnt alive while he was trying to douse a fire in a forest near the similipal national park in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district on Sunday, police said.

Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha is home to the world's only population of melanistic tigers, a rare genetic variant of the Royal Bengal Tiger. Melanistic tigers, with their distinct coat pattern, were first confirmed in 1993. Currently, 13 melanistic tigers are present in the reserve, with ongoing conservation efforts to protect them.

Union education and skill development minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday met Union forest and environment minister Bhupendra Yadav and sought his intervention in controlling the ongoing forest fire incidents in the state.

Similipal Tiger Reserve authorities apprehended Jogeswar Dehuri, a key figure in elephant poaching and tusk smuggling, after an 18-month pursuit following the killing of an elephant in November 2023. Dehuri, who had been evading capture, was arrested from his residence based on intelligence, highlighting the commitment to dismantle the poaching network within Similipal.