(IN): Kaziranga's rhino fights back with villagers' support

[Guest guest]

Link: http://www.overseasindian.in/2006/dec/news/5f7.shtml

 

Kaziranga's rhino fights back with villagers' support

By Syed Zarir Hussain

 

India's endangered one-horned rhinoceros is charging back from the

brink of extinction with forest wardens roping in villagers to combat

poachers.

 

The sight of carcasses of two-tonne rhinos littering the Kaziranga

National Park in the northeastern state of Assam was common a few

years ago, but rangers said wanton killings have slowed down.

 

" No one thought rhinos would survive till 2006 with 100 animals

perishing every year - half of them killed by poachers and the

remaining dying of natural deaths, " park warden Utpal Bora told IANS.

 

The 430-square-km park is now home to the single largest population of

one-horned rhinos in the world.

 

According to latest figures, 1,855 of the world's estimated 2,700

one-horned rhinos lumber around the wilds of this riverine game park,

their numbers ironically making the giant, herbivorous mammals a

favourite target for poaching.

 

Park wardens, however, have reported a downslide in rhino poaching in

the past five years. Only four were killed so far this year, compared

to the early 1990s when some 50 rhinos used to be slaughtered annually

in the park.

 

Organised poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe

contain aphrodisiac qualities, besides being used as medicines for

curing fever, stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of South

Asia. Rhino horn is also much fancied by buyers from the Middle East,

who turn them into handles for ornamental daggers.

 

Profits in the illegal rhino horn trade are staggering.

 

A kilogram of rhino horn can fetch up to Rs.1.5 million ($33,550) in

the international market.

 

" Intensive protection mechanisms and a better intelligence network,

coupled with support from local villagers living on the periphery of

the park have helped us bring down incidents of poaching, " Bora said.

 

Park officials last week arrested a poacher, while police seized a

large cache of weapons believed to be meant for the rhino horn trading

syndicate.

 

Until recently, many villagers acted as guides for poachers in

Kaziranga, earning about Rs.1,000 (about $23) for showing them rhino

tracks. But a series of anti-poaching awareness camps, set up by park

authorities, seem to have won them over.

 

" The support from the villagers is unbelievable. The locals actually

act as the first line of defence and tip us off whenever they spot

suspicious looking people around the park, " another ranger said.

 

Bhaben is a reformed man now - until recently he was involved with a

rhino poaching gang here.

 

" I know I was not doing the right thing. At least the realisation

dawned on me and when I think about my past, I really feel very bad.

It would have been a nail in the coffin had the poaching activities

not slowed down, " said the middle-aged man who now takes tourists

inside the park in his jeep.

 

Several villagers now earn a living by taking tourists on wildlife

safaris inside the park, and others have formed vigilante groups to

foil attempts by poachers to kill rhinos.

 

" Kaziranga is the source of livelihood for a majority of the people

living in the vicinity of the park. From setting up eateries to

resorts, hotels and guest houses, besides running jeeps for taking

tourists, the locals are surviving on the park, " said Arun Das, a

young resident of this area.

 

" Who would come to Kaziranga if the rhinos are not there? It is for

our own interest that we help the authorities in combating poaching. "