Poachers have turned conservationists in the Sunderbans, giving a ray of hope to conservationists for saving the world's largest mangrove forest which is facing threat from rising sea level and climate change and the wildlife.
Anil Mistry, a 48-year-old resident of Bali island in the Sunderbans is one such poacher-turned-conservationist. He is now working hard along with his friends to stop illegal poaching and preserve bio-diversity conservation.
"My entire family, since the generation of my grandfather had been traditional hunters of the region. We used to earn our living by hunting wild animals and birds. But now for the last 15 years I am working for the cause of conservation of Sunderbans which is like my mother," Mr Mistry told PTI.
"After I left poaching I convinced several of my other friends to work for conservation. Now we have a team of 12 people spread across Sunderbans and we work with different NGOs to fight against poaching and sensitise people about climate change," Mr Mistry, who now works with Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).
"They are doing a tremendous good job. The Sunderbans Development Board works in close coordination with them," Mr Pakhira said.
"Mistry and his friends have done wonders in our fight for protection of bio-diversity and curbing illegal poaching in the Sunderbans. His contacts in the area has helped a lot in controlling poaching," Honorary Director of WPSI, S Banerjee said.
"Earlier, whenever a tiger strayed into human habitat it would be killed by villagers. But after Mistry joined us, he has sensitised the people about the need for conservation of tigers. As a result no tiger which had strayed into a village has been killed since early 2002-03," he added.
advantage to the conservation efforts.
"Mistry and his friends have a good network of informants in the entire Sunderbans region which help them to get immediate information on straying of wild animals or poaching and they take immediate action," he said.
Mr Mistry, who also works as a guide for various international organisations who come to make documentaries on Sunderbans, however, feels the political interference at the ground level sometimes hampers conservation work.
"There has been instances when we had nabbed poachers but all of a sudden local political leaders come and take them away. We were forced to just stand and watch helplessly," he said.
Until and unless there is an unanimous feeling among all sections of the people about the need to save the Sunderbans from climate change and other threats no amount of government or private funding can save the unique mangrove forests, he added.
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