All eyes on Kaziranga,free run for poachers in Orang

The two accused,identified as Harmuj Ali and Paokhan Thanga,were arrested from a bus bound for Dimapur in Nagaland on Sunday. They have admitted to having killed the rhino. Thanga is said to be a sharp-shooter.

“The two persons have admitted that they had killed the rhino on Sunday evening. We are,however,yet to recover the rhino horn,” the park director said over telephone from Orang. One US-made pistol,a 12-bore rifle and a sizeable amount of ammunition have been seized from Ali’s house.

The national park has lost at least 19 rhinos in the past four and a half years. “We had as many as 98 rhinos during the 1991 census. The figure,however,came down sharply to 46 in a span of eight years,with most of the deaths caused by poachers,” Momin said.

The rhino population to 68 in 2006,and currently stands at 64.

Orang also figures in the country’s tiger map,with the last count in 2000,conducted through the pug-mark method,showing 19 big cats live there. Poachers have targeted tigers,too,and currently not more than 15 are expected to exist there. This would at the most include seven adults,Momin said.

Forest and wildlife protection personnel in Orang have been at war with poachers. “We have arrested at least 70 poachers since 2005,including the two arrested on Sunday,” said Jayanta Deka,range officer at Orang.

With 31 anti-poaching camps in place,Orang needs at least 186 full-time forest protection personnel to ensure security of its wildlife. Right now,it has only 64 permanent staffers,backed up by 40 casual workers and four sections of armed home guards.

“Our major headache is the Brahmaputra riverfront,with poachers also using human settlements in the char areas in the river as hideouts. The Government,however,has recently sanctioned funds for purchase of a few speed boats for Orang,” Momin said.