Elite squad to protect rhinos

The Pioneer , Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Correspondent : Anup Sharma | Guwahati
Stung by Opposition parties’ criticism following killings of rare one-horned rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site, the Assam Government on Tuesday decided to rush a 100-member team of the elite Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) for its protection.

“A 50-member AFPF team has already left today while another 50 members will be despatched before 6 October,” Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain told reporters here. Confirming that 39 rhinos were killed — 11 by poachers and 28 due to floods — this year, he said the rhino population had increased in Kaziranga tremendously for which the “endangered” tag has been officially removed for them.

Of the 11 rhinos who fell prey to poachers — six were killed inside the park and five in neighbouring Karbi Anglong district, where the animals had migrated. Another 28 of the species died under water following severity of flood, Hussain said.

The Assam Government had already decided to get the rhino killing cases of the last three years probed by the CBI and deploy the Army and Central paramilitary forces in the adjoining areas of the park to foil attempts by poachers. The unprecedented spate in the rhino killings have also forced the State Government to

consider setting up of a State Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (SWCCB) to stop poaching and other wildlife crimes and also to formulate strategies for successful conservation of the State’s wildlife.

However, Hussain said the number of rhinos have risen to 2,505 in the State at present and 2,290 in Kaziranga alone because of better forest management.

“The AGP and BJP are raking up the issue of bad forest management which will harm the prestige of the park which is a pride for the people of Assam,” Hussain said.

He denied charges of AGP and BJP that illegal migrants are being helped by the Government to settle inside the buffer zone of the park to increase the Congress’ vote bank.

“In fact, the AGP Government under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in 1996 had issued an order to settle 96 landless families in those areas,” the Forest Minister claimed.

Stating that a CBI team is camping in the KNP to probe into the killing of animals, Hussain said six .303 rifles and 73 ammunition have been seized while three poachers were killed by forest guards and 14 arrested this year.

Earlier, a team of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau had also visited the park and taken stock of the situation.

On the rhino which strayed to Rani Chapori beel after being washed away, Hussain said he visited the spot on Tuesday but bad weather prevented the IAF chopper from airlifting the animal which is in good health.

It would be airlifted to safety soon, he said.

 
SOURCE : http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/98909-elite-squad-to-protect-rhinos.html
 


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