Kaziranga Rhinos in trouble

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*Rhino toll too high*

 

*Rhino toll too high ***

 

*Nava Thakuria reporting from India*

 

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The authority of Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Asom of Northeast India

has repeatedly asked for sufficient manpower with better equipments to

prevent poachers from hunting endangered rhinoceros solely for the prized

horns. But wildlife activists argue that it was the incompetent policy of

the authority that has failed to save the wild animal.

Two years back, KNP celebrated hundred years of its existence that narrated

a colossal success story. The famous habitat of the great Indian one-horned

rhinos (rhinoceros unicornis) received international media headlines for its

unbelievable achievement for preserving a highly endangered species. The

park spread over 430 sq km is home to more than 1800 one-horned rhinos. It

otherwise nurtures around 65% rhinos living on earth. Besides India, a few

other Asian countries support the conservation of habitats for all together

2700 one-horned rhinos.

Kaziranga was once again in the news but for wrong reasons. The incident of

poaching of rhinos here went up suddenly. Identified as a safe haven for the

rare species, KNP witnessed the killing of 12 rhinos within eight months. It

is for the first time that the toll went too high in the last decade. The

park normally loses 10/15 rhinos annually because of natural deaths and

incidents of poaching. In the last ten years it has lost over 700 rhinos.

The KNP director Suren Buragohain claimed that poachers with international

links are involved with the recent killing of rhinos. " The poachers are

equipped with sophisticated weapons while our guards lack proper arms to

counter them, " said Buragohain.

The rhino horn enjoys a great demand in international market as it is

considered to contain aphrodisiac qualities. The horns are also believed to

have medicinal values. It is used in traditional Chinese medicines. Taiwan ,

Thailand, South Korea and the Middle East are known to have huge markets for

illegal trading of rhino horns.

The poachers use various methods to kill the rhinos. The easiest way is

shooting by silencer-guns. There are reports that the poachers often use

telescopic rifles. Sometimes, the poachers dig a hole on the path, which

rhinos often use. One very interesting aspect of rhino's habit is that it

defecates at a particular place continuously for many days. The poachers

first identify the path with the heap of dung and plan accordingly.

High-tension electric lines are also used to kill the animals.

" Kaziranga is a great conservation success story. Hence, we are really upset

over these killings, " said Buragohain. The police suspect that the poachers

enjoy local help. Even the KNP authority believes that the vital information

on the movement of poachers must come from the fringe areas of the park. The

villagers living in the surrounding localities of KNP are traditionally

sympathetic to the animals. But many times, they have to suffer when the

wild animals enter the villages and destroy their crops. Killing of

villagers by the wild animals are also reported.

" The duty of the authority in that situation would be to deal with the

situation cleverly. You must promptly address the growing resentment of the

victim's families, " said Soumyadeep Datta, the director of Nature's Beckon,

an environmental group of Northeast. Datta said, " Authority and forest

department officials love to talk about arming guards and finding more

funds. But they show little interest in involving the local population. "

The Union government allocates compensation funds for victims' families.

Under the 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme Project Elephant, the

government has propagated guidelines for the grant of ex gratia for those

families, who had suffered human loss and the damage of crops and other

properties by the wild animals.

A fund of Rs 116 lakh in 2002-03 and Rs 94.50 lakh and Rs 45 lakh in

previous fiscal years has been sanctioned to Asom government by the Union

ministry of environment and Forest under the Project Elephant.

But Datta and other officials say that forest officials siphon the money

away. Activists of Nature's Beckon surveyed the areas and surprisingly found

that nobody in the locality had received any compensation for the damage of

crops and other household properties (by the wild animals) from the state

forest department. Facing enormous loss, the angry villagers even

demonstrated against the KNP authority and the forest department.

Sunil Das, belonging to No 1 Shildubi village, said that the villagers had

not received any compensation from the forest department. The village-head

also alleged that the wild animals often destroy their crops, but the

authority always put a deaf ear to their grievances.

*Posted on 27 Sep 2007 by Root*