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Renewed Outbreak Of Rhino Poaching In Assam
Report from Dr Bibhab Talukdar, Director, Wildlife Crime Monitoring Project, Assam

Orang National Park

The conservation of rhino in Orang National Park in Assam received a shock when, in March, two rhinos were poached within a span of 7 days. After a year when not a single rhino was poached in 2004, one animal was killed by pit poaching method, while the other one was shot just three days later. Against this tragic background, the project director of the Wildlife Crime Monitoring Project initiated a series of discussions and put its intelligence network at its full strength to gain information that could lead to the arrest of the poachers involved.

Within a week their efforts paid off and on 4th April a midnight raid was conducted by the police and forest officials on the home of the suspected poacher, on the outskirts of Orang National Park. There they recovered a substantial amount of money, some Rs 367,000, part payment for one rhino horn. The poacher himself had already fled.

However the efforts of the Wildlife Crime Monitoring Project did not end there. Their continuing investigations led to the arrest of the poacher, Md Sanu, on 29th May, and he was taken in for questioning by the police. His interrogation revealed details of how he had smuggled out the rhino horn and to whom he sold it. Further investigations are underway to arrest the wildlife trader concerned.

These investigations and arrests would not have been possible without the work of the WCMP and its vital funding by DSWF.

Kaziranga National Park

Another case of rhino poaching took place in Kaziranga National Park. However, after investigations by Kaziranga officials and WCMP, four Naga youths were arrested by forest officials on 2nd June whilst travelling in a public coach. They were found to have numerous illegal wildlife products in their possession, including more than 94 kgs of rhino skin, rhino nails, pangolin scales, one otter skin and over 20 kg of elephant meat. They were smuggling the products to Nagaland and would have sold the contraband to a dealer in Dimapur. During interrogation, the arrested culprits have given vital information which could lead to the arrest of a well known rhino poacher in the near future.

Four Naga wildlife poachers arrested on 2nd June 2005 near Kaziranga.

Photo Credit: Bibhab Talukdar/WCMP