Tribal poacher turns protector

Jalpaiguri: A poacher has turned protector. And the forest department has minimum role in the 'metamorphism'. After the transition of Sanika Oraon 10 years ago, the 50-year-old tribal man was once a nightmare for the forest department, only one case of poaching has been reported from Gorumara National Park so far.
A resident of Uttar Dhupjhora village in the Gorumara, Sanika has a swagger and a cane-like figure.His agility in the very uncommon line had placed him at the top and his axe used to come down on the animals like lightning flashes. He was also jailed a number of times, but nothing could stop the most-feared poacher.
But now Sanika's ambition is to curb poaching in the region as a payback for his past. "It was some 10 years ago that I was passing by the core region of the Gorumara forest. It was dusk and I just had no weapon to defend myself. I was walking hastily trying to cross the forest as fast as possible as being a poacher I knew how dangerous it was. And what I feared the most happened. A leopard in its prime was guarding my way staring at me," he recalled.
"I started praying to God that if it spared me, I would spend the rest of my life protecting them from poachers. And believe me or not, it left without pouncing at me, which very much contradicts its character," he added.
Sanika has kept his promise. From that day he turned a protector of the forest. He believes that animals are much closer to God than the human beings as they do not commit sins as the human beings do. He therefore decided to give up poaching and turn honest. He now earns his livelihood by playing the dhamsha for tourists .