(IN): Babus helping poachers in Northeast

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Babus helping poachers in Northeast

 

Rahul Karmakar

Email Author

Guwahati, April 23, 2007

 

First Published: 03:46 IST(24/4/2007)

Last Updated: 03:48 IST(24/4/2007)

 

Forest officials across the Northeast are allegedly providing poachers

the ammunition to be the prowl again after a considerable lull.

 

The 100-year-old Kaziranga National Park, which was touted as the

world's biggest conservation success story, received a rude shock when

poachers killed six one-horned rhinos in the past couple of months.

What, however, was of more concern for wildlife activists was the

capture of a poacher with a tranquilizer gun near the Park recently.

 

Park officials said the poacher confessed to have received the gun

from a top forest official in adjoining Nagaland. " A case has been

registered with the police in this connection and investigation is

on, " said Assam's chief wildlife warden MC Malakar.

 

" This hints at an unholy nexus between poachers and some forest

officials in the region, " said wildlife activist Azam Siddiqui. He

reminded the arrest of an IAS officer from Nagaland after the carcass

of five rare monkeys were seized from his official jeep in Golaghat

district more than a year back.

 

Kaziranga, incidentally, is close to Assam's border with Nagaland,

which is used by trans-border poachers from Myanmar and beyond. The

rhino preserve and other wildlife habitats in Assam are also

vulnerable to poachers using Arunachal Pradesh as the conduit. Two

foreign poachers—one Chinese and one Myanamarese—were killed in the

Namsai forest of Arunachal Pradesh a few years back.

 

According to Arunachal Pradesh principal chief conservator of forests

KD Singh, poachers have also struck in wildlife preserves in the

frontier state. Last Friday, a forest guard named PD Majhi and two

unidentified poachers were killed in an encounter deep inside the

Pakke Tiger Reserve in West Kameng district.

 

" The poachers might have sneaked in from Assam. There seems to be a

network of poachers and timber-smugglers active in the region, " Singh

said, adding vigil has been increased in Namdapha Tiger Reserve in

Changlang district.

 

Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary, declared a tiger reserve in 2002, is home to

Royal Bengal Tiger, common leopard and clouded leopard. A census in

2004 had put the number of tigers in the sanctuary at 12. Tigers are

poached for their pelts, teeth, bones and other organs, which the

Chinese believe have medicinal values.

 

" The Pakke encounter shows poachers in the region have tigers in their

sight besides rhinos and elephants, " said Siddiqui. Last week, a 1.8

kg piece of ivory was seized from the cargo section of a private

airline at the LGBI Airport here.