JORHAT, Dec 5 – It is now more than obvious that Kaziranga National Park authorities have not been able to check the recent spurt of poaching within and outside the park premises. As many as 14 rhinos have already been hunted down under the different ranges of the centenary park so far this year. In the latest case of poaching on November 27, a female rhino was slain and its horn taken away in Burapahar range of the park.
This is for the first time in a decade that the number of poached rhinos had reached double figures. In 1997, 12 rhinos were slain by poachers.
Informed sources said that the fear of poaching always lurks in KNP as a well-organized circuit of poachers is active in the area, ready to strike if there is the slightest leniency in patrolling. Nagaland’s commercial hub, Dimapur, and Siliguri (West Bengal) have emerged as black markets for the prized rhino horn which is believed to have aphrodisiac properties, the sources pointed out. The horns are smuggled to China and the Middle-East through middlemen operating in the country.
The Burapahar range, Ghurakati, has borne the maximum brunt of poaching this year. Poachers have killed six rhinos there so far. The eastern range (Agaratoli) has accounted for four rhino deaths. The two other ranges – Kaziranga (Kohora) and Bagori (western range) – have witnessed two rhino deaths each during the span of this year.
The sources attributed the increase in the poaching cases to the devastating waves of floods in KNP this year on the one hand and the rising demand for the horn in the international market on the other. They pointed out that the poachers swoop on the park from the southern part hemmed by the Karbi Hills.
The sources maintained that the lack of adequate personnel has been crippling the anti-poaching system at KNP. Only 500 officers, employees and guards are at present available to guard the park. The sources revealed that top Forest Department officials are pushing for separate Intelligence units to outdo the poachers in the park.
Though there have been some reinforcements in recent times, these are still not sufficient to guard the 430 square-kilometre national park, designated a World Heritage Site in 1985. Also, six new additions, measuring almost the same area (430 square kilometres), have doubled the jurisdiction of the park. The fact that the manpower strength has not been augmented correspondingly has added to the difficulties, the sources pointed out.
KNP guards killed three poachers and arrested 14 others during the course of the year.
