The Orang National Park, only home to these endangered species on the northern side of Brahmaputra, is in a state of disarray.

Then known as the Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, the 79.80 sq. km park, was declared a national park in 1999, but strangely it has not got attention as it deserved being a national park thus bringing untold miseries not only for the skeleton staff but for the hapless animals.

The number of rhinos dwindled alarmingly from 97 in 1991 to 46 in 1999 when the last census was held and tigers from 28 in 1997 to only 19 in 2000.

"There is no buffer zone in the park and the only core zone suffers maximum public interference making it almost impossible for the authorities to manage," says M Momin, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Mangaldai Wildlife Division.

Painting a gloomy picture, the DFP says there are 31 anti-poaching camps inside the park and only 60 guards.

"Some of them are unwell while others are on leave which means we have only an effective strength of 40 and this is really a poor figure as a minimum of three Forest guards are required for each anti-poaching camp," he says.

Momin says poaching incidents were very few in the park few years back with only one rhino killed in 2001 and another in 2003, but this year three were gunned down.

The authorities have, however, taken action and based on a tip off, the police and Forestmen raided the hideout of a suspected poacher and recovered Rs 3.67 lakh last month which he had got from selling the rhino horn.

He is still at large and authorities suspect a gang of international smugglers are involved in poaching.

As if this wasn’t enough to dampen the wildlife lovers comes the deplorable road which leads a visitor from the national highway to the park.

"There is virtually no road and even a four-wheel drive jeep stops especially when it rains," says Ranger Jayanta Deka.

"What to talk of tourists, we the Forestmen do not like to come out and face such roads and if at all are forced to do so, we not like to go back," he says.

It is hardly 20 km stretch from Dhansiri Mukh to Silburi highway but it takes more than an hour for a vehicle to reach the gates of the national park.

Noted wildlife expert and elephant tamer, Manoj Ram Phookan, who spent many days inside the Orang forest, says the local politicians are responsible for the condition of roads.

"They are representatives of the area but it is astonishing why they do not report this to the authorities," Phookan wonders.

Nature has, however, blessed Orang in a unique way, perhaps to counter the negligence shown to it by the authorities.

"Orang park is situated on a highland and thus the effect of devastating flood which annually grips the State and brings sorrow to better managed forests as the Kaziranga National Park is very less," says Deka.

This only points out to the fact that dwindling population of animals are not due to poaching but to lack of proper habitat forcing them to perish in the wild.

Revealing another interest feature of the park, Deka claims that way back in 1915, the Orang area was a human settlement and there were more than 20 ponds most of which are still there.

But gradually people started to leave the area following the outbreak of water-borne epidemic diseases following which it was taken over by the Forest department, he says.

In 1915, it was declared a game reserve and in the 1970s hunting was prohibited.

Apart from the rhinos, the other species found are the tiger, Asiatic elephant, hog deer, wild boar besides mammals as civet cat, leopard and porcupine.

The park is also an important habitat of Bengal florican which is a highly endangered species besides pelicans and herons.

There are also reptiles and various kinds of butterflies to add to its glamour.