THE one-horned rhinos of Kaziranga
National Park, Assam, may yet get a
fresh lease of life. Park officials, dismayed by poaching incidents, have
demanded an additional 400 sq km area
to the park to prevent poaching. In 1995
alone, the poachers had killed 25 rhinos.
Every year during the floods in the
Brahmaputra river, rhinos and deer
stray while migrating from one area of
the park to another and face the poachers avarice. The director of the park, S K
Sen, said, "We want to shift the boundary of the park from the southern to the
northern bank of the Brahmaputra, as it
will bring all existing river islands inside
the park." The park needs more highlands to keep the animals inside.
The park officials are reinforcing
intelligence, communication and road
networks. Speedboats are required to
patrol the river to catch the poachers
who slip through in the guise of fisherfolk. The existing 130 camps inside the
park are not enough to combat the poachers, Besides, the geography of the park
makes it very difficult for the officials to
trace the poachers once they creep in.
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