Guwahati, May 30 : She was born free and to freedom she has returned.
Five-year-old Siloni is the first gibbon in the country to be released into the wilds after being reared at a rehabilitation centre. She was released at Kaziranga on Sunday but the official announcement was delayed, as the forest department wanted to ensure that she would adapt to her new home.
The department undertook the rehabilitation project in association with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).
The gibbon, rescued when she was only a few months old, was supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). She was rescued from Silonijan in Karbi Anglong after poachers killed her mother in February 2003.
Since then, she has been living at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Kaziranga.
Moreover, Siloni will not lack company in the wilds, either. Before her release, she was kept in a cage for four months. The cage was hung from a big tree inside the Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga.
“A male gibbon struck up a friendship with Siloni immediately and has been visiting her ever since. So, when Siloni was set free, the two took off together. We are sure they have found a home by now,” said Rathin Barman, a senior WTI official told The Telegraph.
The male gibbon was monitored for five months to study his home range and behavioural characteristics before being considered as a partner for Siloni.
The governing council of the CWRC, chaired by the commissioner and secretary (forest) and chief wildlife warden of Assam, approved the gibbon’s release.
The official said she was acclimatised for more than four months at the Panbari reserve forest. “Soon after her release, Siloni showed more interest in exploring the forests than in the wild male,” the official added.
Only two other organisations in the world, the Kalaweit Care Centre in Kalleif, Indonesia, and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in Phuket, Thailand, work towards the rehabilitation of gibbons whose life span is about 20 years.
The hoolock gibbon (Bunopithecus hoolock) is an endangered species listed in Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). Experts said the survival of the species is threatened because of habitat loss, hunting and illegal trade.“Habitat fragmentation has forced many gibbons in Assam to live in isolation, often without a mate,” a wildlife official added.
Telegraph India
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