jamshedpur for the first time in living memory not a single animal was killed in the state on bishnu sendra parva an annual hunting festival observed by tribals of jharkhand and the neighbouring odisha and west bengal dalma wildlife sanctuary dws and forest officials said on mondayadivasis observed the centuriesold festival without leaving their houses as jharkhand continued with a complete lockdown across the state chief minister hemant soren has not given any relaxation in any part of the state even though 12 of 24 districts have not reported a single covid19 case with the lockdown continuing many tribal hunters could not reach the forests to observe the festivaldivisional forest officer dfo of the sanctuary chandramouli prasad sinha said small groups of tribal villagers from dalma foothills arrived to offer prayers carrying traditional weapons and there was no report of killing of wild animals till monday evening sinha said we have not lowered our guard our patrolling teams are doing their jobs and foresters are keeping an eye on the 14 entry points to the sanctuary he added that making the tribal devotees follow social distancing norms while they are carrying out the rituals was one of their prioritiesjamshedpur dfo abhishek kumar said many regular hunters have not ventured into the forest but some adivasis reached the fringes from chakulia baharagora dhalbhumgarh and ghatshila areas he added our teams have seized animal traps from a few places but there is no report of any animal being killeda dws official said even though the footfall is low this year the authorities have to wait till the late hours to be certain that no animal has been killed tribals usually go for hunting after dark we will find out if they killed any animal only when they return from the forests he addedthe dalma buru sendra samiti dbss the main organiser of the festival had earlier said that the festival will be observed without any fanfare dbss functionary rakesh hembram said ahead of the festival we had appealed to the people to observe the festival only by offering prayersin the past adivasis have protested against foresters trying to stop them from hunting sendra claiming that the festival is a custom and no law can prevent them from following it forest officials also never admit that animals were hunted down on sendratribal activist mukesh birua said hunting on sendra is not a crime against nature as adivasis know how to live in sync with their surroundings it is our custom we never invade the core forest area and only hunt animals in the buffer zone while santhal tribals take up the annual ritual of hunting animals one day others including ho and oraon tribes observe this festival for a month so that every village gets a chance to hunt down a few animals he said