Rhino poacher arrested in Assam, confesses to militants’ involvement
Kaziranga, October 24, 2012: Since June
floods devastated Assam, animals trying to escape the rising waters in
Kaziranga National Park have fallen prey to hunters, poachers and
speeding vehicles. More than 700 animals have died since then and more
carcasses are being revealed as the waters go down.
But there’s another threat, particularly
to rhinos, that won’t recede with the water. It is from the armed
militant separatist outfits in the area.
The biggest clue to this came after the
arrest of one Lindok Rongpi yesterday, who confessed before a magistrate
that he poached six rhinos under the instructions of Songja Timung,
self-styled defence secretary of Kuki National Liberation Front, one of
the armed outfits from Karbianglong in Assam, now in a ceasefire
agreement.
His arrest led the police to Dimapur in
Nagaland, the hub of animal-parts trade, only to find that the main
buyer, a Chinese named Ho-Chin had fled.
The money militants make by poaching
rhinos, they use it to buy arms. Post-mortem of the animals reveal the
use of automatic guns which further provides evidence of the involvement
of militants, considering professional poachers use .303 rifles, rather
than spraying bullets.
These threats are compounded by the way
these animals are being poached. In a number of cases, wildlife
officials found that the rhinos were dehorned even while alive. Shot by a
gun, while a rhino recovered, the poacher would hack off the horn. In
one case, even the ear was chopped off and the animal left to bleed to
death. Here again the finger is being pointed at militants, mainly
because of the kind of guns used. Bullets from automatic weapons have
been recovered and one AK-56, two .303 rifles and one SBML gun have so
far been seized by the police in the last two weeks.
There are several stark reminders of
militancy targeting wildlife in Assam. In the eighties the Laukhowa
sanctuary, not far from Kaziranga, was cleaned of its entire rhino
population allegedly by United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Manas
lost its world heritage site status after Bodo militancy wiped out all
animals including the rhino. With a horde of armed groups in
Karbianglong and with evidence of militant involvement in the recent
poaching cases, it is not unlikely that Kaziranga could be in similar
danger.
The threat to the rhinos, and the value
of their horns in the international market, has increased also due to
the enhanced security measures in the other big source, South Africa.
This coincides with a surge in demand for rhino horn in South Asia,
where it is used as an aphrodisiac. A World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report
clearly says that Kaziranga, with its 2,000 rhinos, is an area
vulnerable for increased poaching. Its proximity to the international
border makes it an even easier target.
Minister for Environment and Forests
Jayanti Natarajan was in Kaziranga recently to announce monetary grants
and measures but the initiative appeared too routine for any immediate
action.
On October 19, the Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests of Assam, clarifying a WWF press release provided
the following rhino data:
There have been 12 poaching cases this
year – Seven inside Kaziranga, four in Karbianglong and one in Nowgang.
However, all these rhinos were from Kaziranga.
28 rhinos died by drowning, taking the total number of deaths to 40 this year.
Compare the recent data to the previous
years and the number may not look alarming. On an average Assam has lost
around 90 rhinos a year to various reasons which in itself is a
shocking statistic. But losing 40 from a single park in ten months may
be a new worrying record.
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