| Hunt for poachers begins in Jaldapara | ||
| ANIRBAN CHOUDHURY | ||
Alipurduar, Oct. 11: Poachers, suspected to be from Assam, had shot at the male rhino that died in Jaldapara yesterday with festering wounds. A post-mortem report has confirmed the presence of a bullet in the animal’s body. Confirming that a bullet had been recovered from the head of the rhino carcass, principal chief conservator of forests Atanu Raha said over the phone from Calcutta: “A team of senior forest officers will be visiting Jaldapara. We will definitely haul up officers if they are found responsible. It seems that a gang of poachers, most probably from Assam, is once again active in the area.” A combing operation will begin tomorrow in Chilapata, Kodalbusti and adjoining Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, 45km from here, for poachers and injured animals, the forester said. On Friday, when The Telegraph caught up with the rhino in Chilapata forest, maggots had been crawling on the wound which forest officers at first refused to admit was the result of bullet injury. The male rhino had come out of Jaldapara on Thursday and had been roaming in the Chilapata area, 26km from here. Yesterday, it was tranquillised so that the wound could be treated. But after regaining senses, the rhino fell into the Torsha and died after it was washed down for 500 metres. “The incident is a pointer to the fact that the management of the sanctuary at present leaves a lot to be desired. During Pujas, the assistant wildlife warden, the conservator (wildlife) as well as the veterinary surgeon went on leave simultaneously. We have information that the rhino was shot almost a week ago and it had been roaming in the forest without being detected by the forest patrols,” said Animesh Bose, the programme coordinator of the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, a wildlife NGO. The autopsy report has brought back memories of the mid-eighties when rampant poaching for rhino horns had decimated the animal’s population in Jaldapara to a mere 14. However, following concerted efforts at keeping the poachers at bay as well as improving the habitat, the population of one of the largest herbivores rose to 126. But with the death of the male and the recovery of the carcass of a female adult rhino in Jaldapara yesterday, the number has once again taken a hit. The post-mortem on the female rhino is yet to be completed. The Indian rhino, an endangered species and included in the red data book of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is found only in Jaldapara and Gorumara in the Dooars and Kaziranga in neighbouring Assam. |
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