SAFETY FIRST: Notice boards warn of the threat from crocodiles in Bhittarkanika

Dura Mullick has been in excruciating pain ever since she stepped into a nearby river to take a bath. The frail, middle-aged housewife from Ratanpur on the fringes of Orissa's famous Bhittarkanika sanctuary has been lying on a hospital bed for more than a month. She was walking along a marshy path when a crocodile crawled out of the mud and attacked her. The gaping wound that she suffered is far from healing. The pain is getting from bad to worse and she weeps inconsolably. Yet, she can consider herself lucky.

While Mullick managed to survive, several others inhabiting the otherwise picturesque mangrove sanctuary have died gory deaths after falling prey to the crocodiles that lurk in the murky bends of the innumerable creeks criss-crossing the boggy Bhittarkanika. Three months ago, Sankar Jena of Sailendranarayanpur, who was standing knee-deep in one of the creeks, was suddenly swept off his feet by a reptile. Only his mutilated, half-eaten body made the return journey to the shore. While official estimates claim that 15 people have been killed by crocodiles in the past two years, unofficial figures point to a varying but hugely higher toll. Something seems to have gone horribly wrong with a project to preserve an endangered reptile.

Bhittarkanika, declared a sanctuary in 1975, is a favourite hunting ground for crocodiles. The 672 sq km expanse, which is susceptible to floods and cyclones and where malaria is endemic, makes for a tough terrain for the 3.5 lakh people who live in the 400-odd villages in and around the sanctuary. Life became tougher after a UN-Central Government project to breed and rear the nearly extinct estuarine crocodiles turned into a rare ecological success. Launched in Dangmal, deep inside Bhittarkanika, the project has now come to haunt the entire region. For the 10 years that it was in operation between 1975 and 1985, the Dangmal-based Salt Water Crocodile Research and Conservation Centre reared crocodiles in captivity and then released them into the local rivers. And in direct proportion to the increasing reptile population, risks of crocodiles attacking villagers have multiplied.

There's also a clash of interests in the area. A conflict between man and animal, as Anup Nayak, the divisional forest officer of Bhittarkanika, puts it. In many ways, the crocodiles are as insecure as the villagers around them. Human activity in their habitat, in particular rampant illegal fishing, has discomfited them. Though the adult reptile population has multiplied to over 500 from 29 when the project started, their habitat seems less safe than before.

Even the earmarking of a sizeable chunk of Bhittarkanika as a national park hasn't guaranteed its wildlife. peace from human interference. With people stomping all around, the reptiles are provoked into attacking them time and again. This generates a hostile response; a crocodile that killed three fishermen was put to death by angry villagers some years ago. There are nagging suspicions that more crocodiles are meeting the same fate. Carcasses tied to boulders are recovered from river beds every now and then. Many also suffocate to death after getting entangled in fishing nets.

Conservationists say the crocodiles attack humans only in defence. "To make the reptiles the villains would be wrong," argues Biswajit Mohanty of the Wildlife Society of Orissa. "The greater truth is that they are the ones who have been systematically wronged." Sudhakar Kar, a reptile expert with the state Forest and Wildlife Department, agrees. "If anyone is to be blamed, it has to be the people who manage their habitat," he says.

The villagers aren't convinced though. With crocodiles stealthily slithering across dry patches of land, waiting for their next prey in almost every water body-even village ponds-a rising tide of anger is sweeping along the banks. The reptiles are also swimming great distances, as far as Aul, more than 20 km from the sanctuary, to strike terror. While it is yet to be conclusively established that these reptiles are only acting in defence, at stake is the reputation of the sanctuary itself. The breathtaking beauty of Bhittarkanika, it appears, is no longer reflected in its waters.