Orang National Park:
There has been a dramatic increase in wildlife crime in Assam. Orang National Park has decided to go all out and step up pressure on neighbouring villages. NDTV followed an anti-poaching operation in which two poachers were apprehended on Wednesday.
In a pre-dawn raid a joint team of Army and forest guards swooped down on the notorious village of Hamu Char in Jhawni island where a rhino was killed in January. The village touches the boundary of the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park.
There have been five anti-poaching raids by the Orang Park Management so far this year and each time a raid has been conducted on the fringe village they have been able to seize something or the other for example antlers and animal traps.
In this particular raid, the prime suspects had escaped but two others were picked up. Abdul and his father are suspected to have killed several rhinos.
The team moves from house to house collecting illegal items. In an earlier raid, villagers had attacked foresters after some of them were arrested with firearms and wildlife parts.
Since January 2010, 15 persons have been picked up from these fringe villages in connection with poaching.
The pressure of human population and encroachment has been Orang's biggest problem. These raids may be of some help but with an almost zero conviction in wildlife crime the poachers are recycled back into business.