Irresponsibility On Assam Wildlife Preservation
By Nava Thakuria
13 December, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Two investigations into the devastation of some of the world's most endangered species in Northeast India appear to be stalled. Although India's Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh himself has called for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe of the smuggling of tiger parts, so far nothing has happened. The minister's concerns were raised after the seizure of 20 kg of tiger bones worth Rs 50,00 thousand by customs officials at the Guwahati international airport in Assam.
In the second case, the Assam government has ducked a CBI investigation into continuing one-horn rhino poaching in the state. Two years ago, following a huge public outcry, the Assam state government, led by Tarun Gogoi, said he had no objection to such an enquiry. But both probes, preferably by the CBI, are yet to get started.
In the meantime, October and November brought worrying news for wildlife lovers. Four elephant died in central Assam, apparently from grazing on pesticide-laden plants in tea gardens. In another incident, a group of villagers were suspected of torturing of an elephant baby to death.
The first incident provoked Ramesh to write an Oct. 12 letter (to Gogoi asking an immediate investigation. His concern was carried by the State Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain and ordered a probe (not by the CBI).
Meanwhile, the death of an elephant calf in the last week of October shockingly in front of forest officials alarmed the situation. The video footage, telecast through various news channels, showed a group of villagers of Gubah in Morigaon district surrounded the calf and finally the baby elephant died due to injuries. Initially it was understood that the villagers were responsible for the slaughtering. Even the State government asked for a detailed enquiry into the incident and already declared that those found guilty would be punished under the law. Later however found that the incident was reported in the media with distorted facts. The baby elephant was actually ill and so it was left out from the herd. The local people wanted to catch the baby elephant following the direction of forest officers. The motive was to provide treatment to the calf. But it was reported in such a way that the local villagers of the region turned beasts and they showed no sympathy or love to wild animals.
"Even some NGOs have made irritating comments against the people of Assam as not being passionate to wildlife, which we strongly condemn. The Assamese people have proved their love and high admiration to wildlife beyond doubts since time immemorial," said Soumyadeep Datta, an Assam based environment and wildlife activist.
Speaking to this writer, Mr Dutta, who is the director of Nature's Beckon, also added that they had already started a separate investigation into the incident, outcome of which would be made public on time.
There was good news as well. The local police in early November could break a racket of elephant smugglers and seized two wild elephants. Following the tip-off from a conservation group Green Heart Nature, the Kokrajhar district police could even arrested five persons involved the illegal business.
The district police chief PK Dutta suspected that nearly 100 wild elephants had already been smuggled out of Assam in the last five years. He also informed the media that the smugglers caught the wild elephants and after taming them, those were transferred as domestic elephants, which are later used for various purposes. "An adult elephant can bring around Rs. 30-40 lakh to the group," added Dutta.
Assam is home to nearly 5,500 wild elephants (the national count is not more than 10,000). The last elephant census in Assam in 2007 shows that the State has around 1,500 tamed elephants. These tamed elephants are either in the possession of State forest department or some local businessman, who nurture the passion as a status symbol.
The wildlife activists of Assam earlier played an important to stop a hurried attempt by the State forest department to burn down over thousand rhino horns. Initially it was believed to be a historic decision of the State forest department to destroy the stored rhino horns in its custody as a message to the world that rhino horns do not have any aphrodisiac value.
