The reportedly unexpected appearance and unexplained disappearance of crocodiles sighted in the Ganga river at Har-ki-Pauri and other stretches of the river in Haridwar are neither that unexpected nor so unexplainable considering the allegations being made by some environmentalists based in Uttarakhand.
Many wildlife experts including those involved in biodiversity research being conducted by the Zoological Survey of India in the Terai region of Uttarakhand, have alleged that considering the continued pressure on the eco-system resulting from indiscriminate poaching of wildlife including fishes and aquatic creatures in all protected areas including Rajaji National Park and Corbett Tiger Reserve, the prospect of some crocodiles moving out of their native habitat to other channels of rivers and habitats including stretches of the Ganga river in areas where it passes through human habitations, was long being warned about by those involved in wildlife research in Uttarakhand since more than the past two decades.
It is to mention that about one month ago some crocodiles had been sighted in the Ganga river in Haridwar, causing some panic among bathers and resulting in the formation of a investigating committee consisting of wildlife experts and forest department officials headed by a reptile expert from the Wildlife Institute of India. One official source related to the working of this investigating committee on condition of anonymity averred that the reason for crocodiles traveling out of their native habitats was the alarming decimation of the fish and motley aquatic and related wildlife indiscriminately poached along several stretches of rivers including those inside protected areas.
The source stated that whereas the seriousness of poaching of tigers and leopards elicited more Government and public focus, the serious problem caused by indiscriminate and continued poaching of fishes and motley aquatic creatures in most rivers of the mountainous and plain regions was being ignored by both the Government and public media.
However, as a result of the drastic proportion of poaching of fishes and aquatic creatures, crocodilians living in these rivers have run out of food to eat as in some sites their entire prey base has been wiped out by continued and indiscriminate poaching. The crocodiles sighted in the Ganga in Haridwar had moved out of their native environments had been forced to do so by situations nearing starvation created by the continued Government apathy towards the continued poaching of fishes.
The level of Government concern can be gauged by the fact that illegal netting of fishes is continued blatantly even in the Ganga in Rishikesh and Haridwar, which leaves one with little doubt about the level of poaching in rivers running in protected areas.
