Whether in South
Africa or in India poaching of rhinos has assumed alarming levels. In South
Africa, which has the largest population of rhinos and which is an important
country for their conservation, poaching has reached a crisis point so much so
that if the killings continue at the current rate, it is estimated, the species
could be pushed close to extinction. In 2014 as many as 1215 rhinos were killed
and the South African Department of Environment calculated that that amounted
to poaching of one rhino every 8 hours.
In the African
Continent poaching of what are known as Black Rhinos is not confined only to
South Africa. Smaller populations in other African countries such as Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia,
Malawi, Swaziland and Botswana are constantly under
threat from poachers. The White Rhinos found in Republic
of South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, and Uganda are
by far the most numerous (around 20,000 individuals) and yet they are under
threat. And so, indeed, they are in Asia. While Jawan and Sumatran
rhinos are in the list of critically endangered, in our Subcontinent, i.e in
India and Nepal, rhino poaching is rampant. It was recently a cause for a spat
between the Governor and Chief Minister of Assam, the state which has the
largest number of Indian one-horned rhinos. The Governor was shouted down in
the local legislative assembly when he read his speech prepared by the
government indicating that “firm steps had been taken (by the government) for
protection of wildlife”.
This was,
however, not the view of the Governor.
He was so worked up about the constant reports of poaching of rhinos at
the 860 square-kilometre Kaziranga National Park in the state that he asked the
government to change the agency that has been engaged for their protection if it
was not able to prevent poaching. Obviously, the figures of increase in the
rhino numbers from 2201 in 2009 to 2544 in 2013 did not satisfy the Governor in
the face of frequent reports of of poaching. He said that a small number of
criminals are killing a rare and threatened animal and surprisingly the
government is neither able to catch them nor protect the beasts. Soon enough
five people were nabbed from a neighbouring district, one of whom was a member
of the forest protection force. Clearly, poaching of rhinos or, for that matter
high-value wildlife, including tigers, is largely an inside job and the forest
employees’ assistance is generally extended to poachers for substantial monetary
considerations.
Rhinos have been
rendered vulnerable for their horns. Every time a poacher kills a rhino he
decamps from the site with its horn after cruelly hacking it away. Recently a
gruesome video was put up on the YouTube of a rhino that was left to bleed to
death after its horn was hacked away. The horns are something which fetch very
high price in the international market, supposedly, for their basically
mythical curative properties. Wildlife experts have clarified that a rhino’s
horn is nothing but a cluster of hair with no curative attributes. Nonetheless,
the animal is being hunted down for the supposed qualities of its horn to cure
anything from dandruff to cancer. The roots of the myth can be found in the
guidelines of traditional Chinese Medicine which suggest that the rhino horn is
a potent fever reducer, body detoxifier, a cure for hangover, an aphrodisiac
and a cure for cancer. This has astronomically raised the price of the horn as
the demand for it has been soaring in the international market, particularly in
China, Thailand and Vietnam where a kilogram of the horn could fetch Rupees 3 to
4 million (around USD 50000). Mercifully, its demand in the Middle-East has
since tapered off where the rich Arab Sheikhs used to have handles made of it
for their fashionable daggers.
Kaziranga
National Park, a more than a century old park, and a World Heritage Site to
boot, is the largest of the Assam national parks among Manas, Pobitora and
Orang parks which hosts Great One-horned rhinos in larger numbers and hence
feels the pressure of poaching. It is easily accessible from the North through
the River Brahmaputra as well as from the South from the Karbi Anglong hills
(formerly Mikir Hills). Nepal has been somewhat successful in clamping down on
poaching; hence the pressure on Kaziranga has increased manifold. Besides, it
is easier to smuggle out the harvested horns from here to the markets of
South-East Asia through Nagaland via Myanmar and through Arunachal Pradesh to
China. While it is the Nagas who are largely the people behind poaching
engaging locals, the carriers, especially to China, are women who naturally are
subjected to a perfunctory border checks.
Many solutions
have been and are under consideration in order to save the rhinos from being
killed for their horns. One is
legalising the international rhino horn trade. There is a stockpile of horns in
Africa which could be sold off to feed the current high demand which, with
adequate supplies, could taper off. But then it would not be long before the
demand built up again and poachers start killing rhinos. Besides, one could
draw a lesson from the partially legalised ivory trade that has not been
successful. In fact, more illegal ivory is passed on as legal with no strict
controls for legal ivory in place. China had won approval of the Convention on
Illegal Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) and yet being the biggest importer
of ivory it never demonstrated adequate commitment towards ending illegal ivory
trade. China is the largest importer of illegal rhino horns as well and is
likely to show the same lack of commitment for controlling their illegal imports
once the trade is legalised. While opinions are polarised about legalising the
trade, the overwhelming view is that the step was unlikely to work.
While de-horning
of rhinos is not considered the ultimate solution, the Assam government
recently constituted an expert committee to consider its feasibility for
checking rampant poaching of rhino. According to Sanctuary Asia, more rhinos
were killed after being de-horned in Africa as even after de-horning 10% of it
remains and the animal could be killed for even that. Besides, poaching in
Kaziranga being a nocturnal activity, none would ever be keen to check whether
the target is horned or dehorned.
Apparently,
there is no solution for the problem except taking good old measures that are
conventional. And that would mean intensive human checks by a substantially
larger security establishment, especially for extensive and widespread parks
like Kaziranga. The Assam government has already decided to raise a 1200-strong
specialised Rhino Protection Force for Kaziranga. For once displaying great
political will the chief minister declared the force will be aided by modern
arms and fighting gear, and other modern equipment like night-vision devices,
thermal scanners, surveillance cameras, GPS etc. Even use of drones for
tracking poachers is being considered. While incentivising protection from
poaching of rhinos and other wildlife, he announced he would persuade the
National Investigation Agency to investigate cases of poaching.
If the announced
measures materialise the government, perhaps, would not need to try and
experiment with Black Mambas, an all female unarmed protection force engaged
within the Kruger National Park for preventing poaching – as eyes and ears working
like a British Bobby. Their mere presence has brought down the incidence of
poaching. That, however, may not happen in India.
Across the border the rhinos seem to be
thriving in West Bengal. In Jaldapara National Park, the second biggest habitat
for rhinos after Kaziranga, their number has risen to 186 - a rise of 25%. A
similar trend is likely to be shown by the Gorumara National Park – a much
smaller habitat – when counting takes place there. The authorities of the two
parks have claimed that they had not come across any case of poaching of
rhinos. Apart from the other measures that the Assam government is taking, perhaps,
it needs to look at the reasons for this somewhat strange phenomenon in West
Bengal.
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Photo: taken by self one foggy morning in 1989 in Kaziranga National Park, Assam
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