Second rhino killed in park in fortnight

The Telegraph , Monday, June 20, 2016
Correspondent : Pullock Dutta
Jorhat, June 19: The less-than-a-month-old government in Dispur was left staring at the second rhino carcass within a fortnight after poachers killed it at Kaziranga National Park and took away the horn last night.

The ruling three-party coalition (BJP-AGP-BPF) had carried out a shrill campaign against the Congress for its government's failure to stop poaching and had vowed to end the menace if it came to power. Official estimates have put the number of rhinos killed between 2005 and 2015 at 135.

The carcass of the female rhino that was killed last night was recovered this morning, shorn of its pride, the single horn. The incident took place at the Bagori range of the national park. This is the ninth rhino to have fallen prey to poachers at the national park this year, while another was killed at Manas National Park.

A forest official said gunshots were heard near the Katibil area near the Amkathoni and Chirakuwa forest camps last evening and immediately a search operation was launched. However, the carcass could be located only this morning. "The poachers may have come from the north bank of the Brahmaputra since the incident site is close by," a forest official said.

A few rounds of ammunition of .303 and Insas rifles besides a silencer were recovered from the site.

The latest incident comes within three days of the government suspending Kaziranga National Park director Mufakkar Ali for allegedly keeping forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma in the dark about the killing of a rhino on June 7.

The killing took place when the minister was on her first tour to the World Heritage Site after taking charge of a department that has been under the scanner for long for regular poaching of rhinos.

The minister said while the news of the poaching was all over, Ali continued to deny the incident for days. She said the Kaziranga authorities had even declined to take her to the incident site on the pretext that they could not arrange an elephant to carry her.

Satyendra Singh has been appointed the new director.

The forest department, along with police, have managed to apprehend at least two poachers involved in the killing of the rhino on June 7. However, two more poachers involved in the crime are still absconding.

The police have apprehended several poachers besides two women allegedly involved in the rhino horn trade racket recently and recovered over Rs 25 lakh from the duo.

Several arms and ammunition were also recovered from the poachers.

BibhabTaludar, secretary general of Aaranyak, an NGO working in the field of wildlife conservation, told The Telegraph, "Authorities in Assam should understand the rhino trade dynamics at the international level and based on it they should initiate action at the local level, combining the strength of every enforcement agency at each level to check the well organised network of wildlife poachers and traders. To cite an instance, in Nepal there has been no case of rhino poaching for the last two years and thus there is every possibility of poachers targeting here and authorities should keep track."

Sources said poaching has increased in the state because of the huge demand for rhino horns in the international market. "Price of a rhino horn is more than Rs 1 crore and poachers are more than willing to take the risk," an official involved in the anti-poaching operations told The Telegraph.

Given the incentives to pull the trigger and wield the machete, poriborton (change) that the new BJP-led government has promised after 15 years of Congress "misrule" could take a while to set foot in the wilds of Assam.

 
SOURCE : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160620/jsp/frontpage/story_92182.jsp#.V2d8Y8d97IU
 


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