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UWAHATI: He never imagined that a guided tour of rhino dens could fetch him so much of money. For Balak Sing Teron, Rs 9,000 earned in one day
is an "astronomical sum". And that too, for chaperoning a few trigger-happy sharpshooters to the one-horned wonders of Kaziranga National Park on just five occasions. Never mind that the armed men managed to gun down rhinos twice. Ensuring the animals' safety wasn't part of the "deal".
But Balak, a youth from Nutun Danga village of Nagaon, is now a reformed man. After much persuasion by forest department officials as well as fellow villagers, he surrendered last year and has stopped helping poachers ever since. However, the lure remains for other villagers. Hamlets around the Burapahar range of Kaziranga are notorious for rhino poaching. And forest officials admit that acute poverty is one of the major reasons why villagemen are agreeing to help poachers from outside in killing rhinos in exchange of a few thousands of rupees.
A forest official said, "The sharpshooters are not locals. People from adjoining villages of Kaziranga hardly kill rhinos. Rather, they are used by poachers from Karbi Anglong district, Nagaland and Manipur as guides. Poverty makes locals more susceptible to the job, which earns them better money than they would have otherwise got."
Balak said he had met three Paite hunters from Manipur's Churachandpur district in 2007. "They (hunters) told me that they wanted to hunt a rhino, and asked me to help them. They instantly offered me Rs 500 as advance, and promised more once the mission was accomplished," he admitted, adding, "After five attempts, the hunters successfully shot down rhinos two times during 2007. I was then paid a total of Rs 9,000 for helping them as a guide." The Kaziranga National Park has about 2048 one-horned rhinos at present.
"With Rs 9,000, I fed my elderly father and mother for the entire year. But now I have realized that it is better to do some other job to run the family than earn money through illegal means," he said.
In recent times, many poachers as well as villagers who had connived with poachers to killing rhinos surrendered to the forest department. Along with Balak, 19-year-old Rajen Kiling Songsing Teron, another guide', had also surrendered. "We have increased pressure on villagers so that they don't allow anybody to help rhino poachers. We have also successfully tightened our grasp around Burapahar," another forest official said.
In July this year, a major poaching attempt by a four-member hunter gang had been foiled at Burapahar. Officials said the gang had sneaked into the sanctuary without any local guide to help them. Four rhinos have been killed by poachers, while 11 attempts have been foiled by armed Kaziranga guards between January and August this year.
UWAHATI: He never imagined that a guided tour of rhino dens could fetch him so much of money. For Balak Sing Teron, Rs 9,000 earned in one day
is an "astronomical sum". And that too, for chaperoning a few trigger-happy sharpshooters to the one-horned wonders of Kaziranga National Park on just five occasions. Never mind that the armed men managed to gun down rhinos twice. Ensuring the animals' safety wasn't part of the "deal".
But Balak, a youth from Nutun Danga village of Nagaon, is now a reformed man. After much persuasion by forest department officials as well as fellow villagers, he surrendered last year and has stopped helping poachers ever since. However, the lure remains for other villagers. Hamlets around the Burapahar range of Kaziranga are notorious for rhino poaching. And forest officials admit that acute poverty is one of the major reasons why villagemen are agreeing to help poachers from outside in killing rhinos in exchange of a few thousands of rupees.
A forest official said, "The sharpshooters are not locals. People from adjoining villages of Kaziranga hardly kill rhinos. Rather, they are used by poachers from Karbi Anglong district, Nagaland and Manipur as guides. Poverty makes locals more susceptible to the job, which earns them better money than they would have otherwise got."
Balak said he had met three Paite hunters from Manipur's Churachandpur district in 2007. "They (hunters) told me that they wanted to hunt a rhino, and asked me to help them. They instantly offered me Rs 500 as advance, and promised more once the mission was accomplished," he admitted, adding, "After five attempts, the hunters successfully shot down rhinos two times during 2007. I was then paid a total of Rs 9,000 for helping them as a guide." The Kaziranga National Park has about 2048 one-horned rhinos at present.
"With Rs 9,000, I fed my elderly father and mother for the entire year. But now I have realized that it is better to do some other job to run the family than earn money through illegal means," he said.
In recent times, many poachers as well as villagers who had connived with poachers to killing rhinos surrendered to the forest department. Along with Balak, 19-year-old Rajen Kiling Songsing Teron, another guide', had also surrendered. "We have increased pressure on villagers so that they don't allow anybody to help rhino poachers. We have also successfully tightened our grasp around Burapahar," another forest official said.
In July this year, a major poaching attempt by a four-member hunter gang had been foiled at Burapahar. Officials said the gang had sneaked into the sanctuary without any local guide to help them. Four rhinos have been killed by poachers, while 11 attempts have been foiled by armed Kaziranga guards between January and August this year.
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