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WILDLIFE: CORBETT NATIONAL PARK
Others Leads Too Were Ignored
Ram Singh's just
one of the warning signals that went unheeded. Another came on January
30 when a young tusker was shot at and injured. Officials let the incident
pass merely because the animal survived. No leads were pursued, no villagers
were questioned. In October last year, Brijendra Singh had spotted an
arrowhead about 6 cm long from elephant droppings in Corbett. Once again
forest officials did not think much of it. Worse, in August 2000, Alok
Pandey, a range officer at Sarapduli, one of the 11 field ranges in Corbett,
failed to react when a bull died and its tusks were removed.
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| POACHER'S TRAIL:
Forest guards (top) comb Corbett Park in search of poachers; and Sansar
Chand, a known poacher |
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The insouciance apart, forest officials aren't
exactly armed to battle the poachers. "It is war out there, but the
soldiers in the forests aren't trained or armed properly,'' rails Belinda
Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.
"Standards of surveillance have fallen. Given that ivory consumption
has gone up in the last year or so, we must tighten up in this vital area,"
adds Manoj Misra, director, Traffic India, an NGO working against illegal
trade in animal skins and ivory.
But there aren't enough
forest officials; a third of the sanctioned posts at Corbett are vacant.
There are 273 posts, but only 197 forest officials have been appointed.
Between them they have only 65 working handsets, 60 rifles, almost 20
of which are unusable. There are 78 12 bore rifles, but as to how many
work there isn't any definite answer. None of the 14 Rangers have vehicles.
There isn't even half a dozen elephants in each range to see them through
the slush and high waters of the monsoons. To fight an enemy that tip-toes
its way into the forests at night, over an area that is about the size
of Delhi, there are only two night binoculars. Forget about the right
shoes, flashlights, rucksacks.
No wonder the poachers are calling the shots.
They have shifted operations from the periphery of the park to deep inside
the forest. Says an alarmed Kapil Joshi, deputy director of Corbett: "This
isn't normal poaching. There is a method to it. We are up against a very
deadly adversary." Besides, jungle intelligence is poor. Unlike the
police, the Forest Department does not have an intelligence unit at all.
"We are dependent on the police for tracking cases," says P.C.
Joshi, director at Corbett Park.
Meanwhile, the Government has its task cut out
to curb poaching. It needs to resettle villagers away from the park-the
locals provide shelter to poachers and even guide them into the forest
depths. It needs to develop intelligence on ivory trade: that the trade
has revived, there is no doubt and Ram Singh's threat wasn't without basis.
In 1999, 136.7 kg of ivory was recovered all
over the country, besides a tusk. In 2000, recoveries had jumped to 261
kg, besides 15 tusks. Even VIP movement inside the Corbett Park poses
a problem: a recent report submitted by the Uttaranchal DGP says that
forest authorities failed to note down names and details of those accompanying
senior officials.
Until these happen on the ground more tuskers
will die painful deaths. And the vultures will continue to circle the
Corbett skies.
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