Assam poaching menace

Forest guards in Assam being trained to tackle poaching menace

Guwahati: Authorities in Assam are imparting high-tech training to the rangers and other forest guards with an aim to counter the menace of poaching. The two-day training sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was conduced at Rajiv Gandhi National Park on May 31. Around 40 rangers and forest guards participated in this orientation and training programme. A majority of the guards were from the Orang National Park while the rest were from the famed Kaziranga, Manas and Pobitora wildlife sanctuaries. The basic objective of the training programme is to train the forest guards for the success of the India Rhino Vision-2020 (IRV-2020) programme. Amit Sharma, an official from World Wildlife Fund said that a disciplined approach to combat poaching should be followed if IRV-202 is to succeed. "The vision of IRV-2020 or India Rhino Vision-2020 is a long term conservation of rhinos in Assam. Particularly for doing that we have a two point strategy. One is translocation and next is protection of rhinos in the rhino bearing areas. This is a part of the strategy that says protection to rhinos and for that what is required is, a very disciplined approach to combat poaching," he added. The major threat of the poachers has loomed large in the three parks and the safety of the rhinos depends a lot on the forest guards. However, the poachers had an upper hand due to lack of proper training, equipments, and inadequate numbers of forest guards. "Security should be more here so that the animals are protected and for this there should be more guards here," said Dipen Kalita, a visitor. Fortunately, in the last three years there was not even a single instance of poaching reported in Pobitora, which also has the highest rhino density unlike the poachers having a field day in Kaziranga and in Orang too. A recent survey of rhinos has shown eight percent growth in three rhino sanctuaries, namely Kaziranga, Pobitora and Orang.
-Jun 1, 2009

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