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Project update
- March 2006
Changing
the future of Rhinos in Assam
By: Bibhab Talukdar
The rhino is regarded as a powerful beast
for its gigantic size and shape. Rhinos have been killed by poachers
ruthlessly for over a century in Assam. However whenever there
are threats, there are a few saviours too. The David Shepherd
Wildlife Foundation of UK in collaboration with Aaranyak - a society
for biodiversity conservation in North East India - have joined
forces since 1998 to address the problem of rhino poaching in
Assam. A small beginning has led to the formation of the Wildlife
Crime Monitoring Centre which has been monitoring the state of
wildlife crime in North East India and also in other South East
Asian countries.
Notable anti-poaching operations that have
led to the arrest of poachers during October 2005 to February
2006 are mentioned below -
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Photo Courtesy: Bibhab Talukdar |
Case No-1: On the night of 20th January
2006, in an operation carried out in the forests on the Assam-Meghalaya
Border, about 20 km from Guwahati city, three poachers were arrested
along with three factory made SBBL guns and six live cartridges,
six more hand made cartridges and 11 used cartridges with gun
powder and other materials. They were found killing capped langur
(already killed 3) and waiting to poach two tuskers from a herd
of 36 elephants moving in the area. The Wildlife Crime Monitoring
Project (WCMP) in association with the Range Officer of Guwahati
South had used its intelligence sources to get prior information
of the poachers' movements and launched a well planned operation
during the night of 20th January 2006 resulting in the arrest
of the culprits (right).
Case No-2: Rhino Poaching in Pabitora Wildlife
Sanctuary on 10th February 2006
On the night of 10th February, a group of
poachers shot down a rhino inside the Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary
and took away the horn. On getting the news, intelligence units
were alerted and, based on the post poaching information, one
person was detained at his house on 11th February. He was brought
to the Range Head Office of Pabitora and upon initial questioning
he revealed the name of another poacher (Photo-3). Accordingly
a special forces team trapped the poacher and arrested him 11th
February.
During the period
of October 2005 to February 2006 Aaranyak has also conducted a
series of legal orientation programmes to strengthen the hand
of the law enforcement agencies. The training was divided into
two parts. The first dealt with the correct legal protocol required
to secure a conviction during the pre and post crime scene period
while the second part dealt with the period after the arrest of
the accused and the correct seizure of wildlife articles. The
training programmes also dealt with issues like the search, arrest,
and detention of criminals involved in wildlife crime.
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