Danger stalks floodhit animals
RAIN PERILS Extra forces follow the monsoon trail of over 2,000 rhinos as they move into areas under rebel control
KAZIRANGA: The escape of most animals from the flooded Kaziranga National Park (KNP) has made wildlife officials shift focus on two lesser known forest reserves – Dolamara and Parkuppahar – in central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.
Every monsoon, floodwaters force rhinos, elephants and other animals out of Kaziranga to the hills of Karbi Anglong across National Highway 715 skirting KNP’s southern edge. This means sharing space with militants, some of whom moonlight as poachers.
Dolamara is the larger of the two forest reserves at an average elevation of 1,500 ft straddling about 1,000 sq km of the Karbi Anglong hills. But the Silingkhowa section of Parkuppahar has a more difficult terrain that suits militants on the run.
“The last case of poaching with involvement of militants was in 2012 when four rhinos were killed. We cannot rule out a return of the rebels as poachers this time,” said Joysing Bey, divisional forest officer of Karbi Anglong Range .
The emergence of a new outfit – People’s Democratic Council of Karbi-Longri – backed by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland Khaplang -- has made forest officials apprehensive. Rhino horns are smuggled out via Nagaland, east of Karbi Anglong, to Myanmar and beyond. Rhino horns are smuggled out via Nagaland, east of Karbi Anglong, to Myanmar and beyond.
“The state police chief has made the superintendents of police of Karbi Anglong and adjoining districts help with security in the hills. The hills beyond Kaziranga are being manned by 150 extra men,” forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma said.
A third of KNP’s 2,400 rhinos (2015 estimate) move to the safety of the Karbi Anglong hills during monsoon. The animal can invite trouble when it ascends to the dense forests at 1,300-1,500 ft, not natural for an animal that prefers to graze in low-lying grasslands.
But the rhino and other animals risk being run over by speeding vehicles on NH 715 before moving to the relative safety of the hills.
“This is why we have, as per National Green Tribunal guidelines, limited vehicle speed on a 68km stretch of the highway skirting Kaziranga to 40 kmph,” Kaziranga DFO Rohini Ballave Saikia said.