Manipulating with a body part of a species will be like destroying the beauty of the masterpiece.Whether dehorning of Rhino is really the only option left now or is it another political gimmick ? To unravel this, we have to first understand why poaching is prevalent in Assam. I am here taking Kaziranga National Park as the case study as in 2014, 11 out of 12 killings of Rhinos are recorded here. Similarly in 2013 more than 40 rhinos were killed in Kaziranga only.Poaching is mostly done for the user value of the horn. The average weight of a horn is 1.5kg and the price of 1kg horn in the international market in $ 1 lakh approximately.Thus, they earn nearly about 90 lakh rupess for each horn. Also, the horn is used for producing traditional medicines in many Asian countries from Malayasia and South Korea to India and China. Even it is used for maunfacturing ornaments, dagger handles, paperweight, hair pin etc.
Now the question arises why Kaziranga is targeted mostly. It is the most easily accessable national park. Kaziranga is one of very few national parks where the national highway runs in between . There is no clear demarcated area, neither any particular entry and exit point of the park.
Dan Henk in his book - The Botswana defence force and the war against poachers in Southern Africa divided the poachers into three types : subsistence, trophy, and commercial. Subsistence poachers are those who normally poach game for consumption. The practice is commonly referred to as “killing for the pot.” These poachers do not usually pose a serious threat to the extinction of the wildlife. However, the relationship between subsistence and the other two makes them a formidable force in the anti-poaching campaign. Trophy poachers are not a serious threat in the region. They usually kill animals for sport trophies. It is the commercial poachers who pose a serious challenge in wildlife conservation efforts since they indiscriminately kill animals for illicit business purposes such as illegal rhinoceros horn trade. They are organized and closely interconnected with the subsistence poachers. In case of Assam also the main threat is from the commercial poachers, however, the relation between subsistence poachers or local inhabitants and the commercial poachers makes the scene more serious. And the nexus between armed insurgency groups and the poachers has mad the situation more grim . Even ex-militants are also involved in this game of making fast money.
Though most of the poachers are outsiders but the logistic support is provided by the local people for a small amount. The main concern arises here that why even after so much effort by the Government and wild life activists, local tribals help the poachers? Main reason behind it is that, the local tribal people of Kaziranga are not deriving any benefits from the the National Park, rather their traditional rights on forest minor product, fishing etc. have been taken away.
The other angle of the picture is the loopholes in the security arrangement. The forest guards, which are the main field operators , are not given salary. They are paid meagre allowances . Moreover, they lack sytematic training and are hopelessly ill-equiped . The forest guards still use the obsolete 303 rifles to confront the high tech and automatic weapon weilding poachers. Another important aspect is that minimum technology has been used by the Kaziranga authority to counter poaching activities, leave aside GPS and other technology, even as basic as CC TV in strategic locations are not installed.
Another very important aspect is the activity of numerous militant outfits in Kaziranga and adjacent areas and easy availability of illegal arms in North East, the main market of illegal arms in NorthEast is Dimapur, Nagaland which is not far away from Kaziranga. On international level, well-versed observers see the increase in the supply of weapons in the African continent as having an impact on rates and patterns of poaching (Duffy 1999, The role and limitations of state coercion: Anti-poaching policies in Zimbabwe. ). Zimbabwe’s Minister of Defense acknowledged in 1990 that poaching was no longer an ordinary expedition, but it was some kind of military operation . Therefore, it could be argued that weapons proliferation in Africa escalated the challenges of anti-poaching campaigns. . The armed militants and ex-militants many times directly or indirectly forces the local youths in the poaching loop. And it is already proved all over the world that, involvement of local population is the greatest stumbling block for any anti-poaching drive. Spencer, C., and J. Slabbert in their book Transfrontier Africa-SAVANNA Project argued that more involvement of local population means more cases of poaching. Thus, the easy availability of arms in the hands of militant groups and the so called surrendered militants in Assam and North East is a very important factor which poses serious challenge to any anti-poaching strategy.
Recently, the Assam Government has floated the idea of dehorning the Rhinos to save them from poachers and the opinion of the public has been sought for. In that context, I believe that dehorning should be the last option to protect the endangered animals. But question is whether the Assam goverment has explored and exhausted all other options or not . We have to remember that, dehorning not only defeat the very purpose of conservation of wild animals in their natural place and self. Moreover, the one horned rhino is not just any other animal under threat, over the years it has evolved as a symbol of natural heritage and cultural identity of the Assamese people. Often example of Zimbabwe is discussed as an example of success story of de-horning, but we should not forget that, the dehorning done in Zimbabwe was in completely different situation at the back drop of total break down of law and order situation.
Instead of de-horning the Forest Ministry should explore other acceptable and permanent options. And one of the most important options is total revamping of security arrangement of the Kaziranga National Park. Presently the anti-poaching drive and security of the Park is entrusted with the poorly equipped and untrained forest guards. Instead three layers of security cordon can be provided to counter anti-poaching and other illegal activities. The outer layer may be managed by the Para-Military forces which will surely check the free movement of the militants and illegal arms weilding poachers. The middle layer can be managed by Assam industrial security force which are successfully providing securities to tea gardens. They can be brought in to check the nexus between locals and the poachers, if any. And in the inner core area , there should be the entrusted with the forest guards as they are generally more versed with the area, with occasional support from Para-Military forces. This can be an immediate measure , while in the meanwhile, the Government should come up with a better policy to modernise the forest guards so that they can take up the challenges of the changing scenario.
If you give stick, you should propose for carrot too. A symbiotic relationship should be devised between the National Park and the local inhabitants. The locals should get economic benefits from the tourism related industry in the National Park which will slowly convert each of them a conservationist. All the tourism related industries developed in Kaziranga should give semi skilled or unskilled jobs to the local people. Also, preference should be given to the local people in the skilled jobs. Government should give soft loans to the local people to start small business related to tourism industry, like interest free loan to buy safari jeeps, shops, restaurants etc ,house renovation loan for bed and breakfast schemes etc. Moreover, minor forest product rights, fishing rights in certain areas can be advocated.
More proactive role of the Central Government is also required. Specially, there are allegations that these rhino killings are 'Political Killings'. This is a very serious allegation which requires a high level inquiry by the Central Government.
As a matter of fact, tightening security arrangements and vigilence ,mindfulness of the Assam Government can go a long way in conserving the life and ecology of the animal. We should not leave any stone untouched before proceeding towards the proposal of dehorning of the Rhinos, which will, no doubt, destroy our cultural identity and pride.
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