Poachers at bay in Kaziranga

As a result of increased co-ordination between villagers and wildlife staff, poaching is on the wane now in Kaziranga National Park. 

POACHERS are on the run in Kaziranga National Park. This is a heartening development. It is the result of increased co-ordination between villagers and wildlife staff in Kaziranga National Park. Rhino poaching was at its worst in the National Park during 1992 when 48 endangered rhinoceros were killed in the sprawling sanctuary situated by the Brahmaputra in central Assam.

It called for urgent rethinking on part of the wildlife authority in Kaziranga Park as far its anti-poaching measures are concerned and the need for setting up a strong intelligence network among the villagers living on the periphery of this 430- sq km-wildlife habitat was felt. Besides taking steps to equip its wildlife protection staff with adequate number of rifles and other equipment, the Park authority consequently resorted to random welfare measures in the fringe villages to set up a rapport with the villagers whose help was desperately required to keep a tab on the poachers’ movements. Since then numerous awareness campaigns were organised among the villagers by the Park authority with the help of NGOs to sensitise them on the need for protection of the endangered rhino and other wildlife in the national park.

In its bid to elicit co-ordination from the villagers regarding movements of poachers who are bound to seek shelters, the national park authority have tried to help the poor villagers to improve their economic condition by providing casual engagement, giving fund to set up poultry, and piggery repairing village roads and schools, providing saplings for planting valuable trees on their land and the like.

”The year-long effort to engage villagers in anti-poachers drive has now started paying the dividend. The poaching was a major problem till 1996. It is on the wane now. The number of rhinos killed by poachers per year has come down to single digit figures during the last few years. This year not a single rhino was touched by the poachers within the core area of the park area although a straying rhino was killed in a nearby reserve forest in July last,” says L. N. Baruah, assistant conservator.