IN: Poachers have field day in Kaziranga

April 18, 2007

Poachers have field day in Kaziranga

By A Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 17 – A world heritage site in Assam is in danger and

the State Government is yet to respond; nay, even recognize the need

for intervention. The Kaziranga National Park, a world famous

biodiversity hotspot has seen a sharp rise in poaching this year and

the death toll includes six one-horned rhinos from January till date.

It is a trend that has not been witnessed some years now. And if the

dangerous development goes unchecked, Kaziranga could well end up with

a large death toll of rhinos by the end of the year.

The most recent incident of poaching took place inside the Agaratoli

Range on April 13, while another killing occurred earlier in the

month. The death toll in March was three, while in January another

rhino was killed.

Cases of poaching have been most frequent in the Burhapahar range, one

of the new additions to the national park and one with difficult terrain.

When asked, a forest official speaking on condition of anonymity said

the spurt in poaching could be traced to several factors. " Acute

shortage of manpower and involvement of some new groups are two major

reasons why rhinos have been targeted more frequently. "

The Forest Department has been seeking more frontline personnel to be

pressed into service in Kaziranga, but so far their staff strength has

not been augmented.

Concerns have also been aired over the quality of weapons and

equipment used by the poachers. At times they have reportedly used

semi-automatic weapons and on other occasions they were found carrying

tranquilizing guns. To confront such adversaries the forest personnel

have guns, which are gradually becoming outdated.

Better intelligence feed from the settlements close to the national

park has now been considered critical to check poaching of rhinos.

However, the forest department faces a fund crunch for such an effort

to be carried out over a long time.

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