(IN): Kaziranga gets back NGO saviour - Rhino foundation answers SOS from where it all began

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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070808/asp/frontpage/story_8165605.asp

 

Kaziranga gets back NGO saviour

- Rhino foundation answers SOS from where it all began PULLOCK DUTTA

 

Guwahati, Aug. 7: When two rhinos die in Kaziranga National Park on an

average every month, Anwaruddin Choudhury is the last person to develop a

thick hide.

 

Choudhury's NGO, The Rhino Foundation for Nature in Northeast India, is

going back to the rhino habitat it helped protect throughout the

mid-nineties to assist beleaguered forest staff in combating the resurgence

of poachers.

 

The statistics speak for themselves: Kaziranga has lost 14 rhinos since the

start of the year, 11 of them to poachers and two only yesterday. Floods

have made surveillance even more difficult at the wildlife sanctuary, a

Unesco-designated World Heritage Site.

 

Choudhury said in Guwahati today that the rate at which rhinos were being

killed this year was indicative of a long-term problem for Kaziranga, which

celebrated its centenary only last year. " We have decided to refocus on

Kaziranga. If rhinos continue to be killed at this rate, the species will be

wiped out from the face of the earth in no time. "

 

Kaziranga director Surendra Nath Buragohain quickly accepted the rhino

foundation's offer to rejoin the conservation campaign. " What we need most

now is help from an organised network to fight poachers, and we feel that

the rhino foundation is the best in the field, " he said.

 

Founded in 1994 with British conservationist N.E. Wright as its chairman,

the foundation works exclusively for the conservation of the Asian

one-horned rhinoceros. It is reputed to have the best network of field

workers and equipment among conservation-specific NGOs in the Northeast.

 

The rhino foundation diverted its activities from Kaziranga to the Orang and

Pobitora sanctuaries in 1999-2000. Choudhury and his colleagues felt at the

time that Kaziranga was in " safe hands " , having attracted the attention of

several NGOs based within and outside the country.

 

Choudhury said the rhino population in Pobitora and Orang would have been

obliterated had poaching continued the way it has been in Kaziranga.

 

Pobitora has 81 rhinos and Orang 68. The world's largest population of the

species is in Kaziranga: 1,855 during the last census.

 

The rhino foundation's most potent weapon against poachers has been its

assemblage of reformed rhino hunters. It gets funds from international

agencies and individuals from across the world and the bulk of the money is

spent on warm clothes, raincoats and jungle boots for forest guards in

Kaziranga and the other two sanctuaries.

 

Choudhury said 1986 was the worst year for Kaziranga, poachers killing as

many as 45 rhinos. Better vigilance and the participation of NGOs in the

conservation campaign brought the number down gradually. " In 1998, only

eight rhinos died and we decided to shift our attention to other rhino

habitats. "

 

The resurgence of poachers in Kaziranga is being attributed to the

involvement of gangs with international links. " Organised gangs armed with

sophisticated weapons are involved, " Assam's chief conservator of forests,

M.C. Malakar, said.

 

The forest department recently decided to form an intelligence wing

exclusively to keep tabs on these gangs.

 

Rhino horn is regarded as an aphrodisiac in some Asian countries. In the

West, it is prized for being rare and used to make ornamental items.

 

 

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