8 rhinos killed in Kaziranga this year

Wildlife Column Vol. 3 Issue No. 31

July 16-31, 2007

8 rhinos killed in Kaziranga this year

In what should be a matter of concern to the Forest Department and conservation circles, poachers eight rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park this year. They also decamped with the horns.

The spurt in poaching in Kaziranga this year has raised a serious question mark over the prevalent status of security in the park. While scarce manpower is often cited as a major constraint in manning the 800-odd sq km park effectively, it is also a fact that the poachers have been helped by the scarce intelligence-gathering network of the Forest Department, the park authorities in particular.

A source in the Forest Department said that apart from augmenting the manpower, the existing intelligence network also needed to be strengthened for preempting the moves of the poachers.

“Today poachers are a well-organized and professional lot, and they keep on changing their tactics and strategies frequently to catch the forest personnel off guard. Poaching is coordinated by the international illegal racket in animal body parts, which acts in a thoroughly professional manner,” it said.

Kaziranga, with 1,855 (2006 census) rhinos, shelters the world’s largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros.

Of late, what has aggravated the problem of keeping a constant watch on such a big population is the tendency of the rhinos to stray out of the park in search of food or space. “The monitoring of the straying rhinos is a serious matter that needs to be addressed at the earliest, as straying rhinos are extremely vulnerable to poaching or may even end up as victims of man-rhino conflict,” Dr Bibhab Talukdar of Aaranyak, a conservation NGO, said.

According to Dr Talukdar, apart from translocation, long-term measures for ensuring security to the rhino should focus on extending the area of Kaziranga. “The sixth edition to Kaziranga, which covers some 300-sq km, should be handed over immediately and efforts should be made to acquire more areas that serve as rhino habitat,” he said.

More forces for Kaziranga sought
Close on the heels of another rhino being killed inside Kaziranga National Park, an emergency meet held today favoured the deployment of at least two companies of combat personnel to curb poaching activities in and around the World Heritage Site. With eight rhinos being killed this year alone, pressure is building up on the Forest Department to act tough. The high level meet attended by State Wildlife Warden MC Malakar, the Director Kaziranga, DFO and the Golaghat SP recognized the growing threats from poachers and discussed the nature and dimension of poaching operations.

A well-placed source, who attended the meeting revealed that Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain was concerned by the rise in poaching and had insisted on a meet to review the entire security situation over the park.

The meet took into account the intelligence that was received from several quarters and acknowledged that the quality of information coming in was not adequate to take result-oriented action against poachers. They were, however hopeful that better intelligence would be available soon.

Some of those who attended the meet believed that the recent poaching activities were carried out by people who were better-equipped and trained. Some of the poaching activities had taken place at moonless nights, which was not the case on previous occasions.

“So far the present trend is concerned, there is a strong possibility of some militant outfits being involved. They are armed with sophisticated weapons, have better logistics and guides,” the source said.

Such has been the nature of poaching operations that the Forest Department has realized that anti-poaching strategies need to be upgraded soon. One of the measures would be to form and deploy a combat force trained to operate in the tough terrain of Kaziranga.

In the days ahead, top officials of the Forest Department and the Forest Minster is likely to prepare a thorough proposal to be submitted to the Government for approval.

Significantly, the national park that is home to the largest number of Indian one-horned rhinos (2006 in the year 2006) has been in the news for a scarcity of frontline personnel for quite some time.

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