Meet shy and soft-spoken Jasobanta Behera (40) of Dangamal Crocodile Breeding and Research Centre in Bhtarakanika. He has been taking care of female albino Gori, centre of attraction for the tourists for over last two decades.
According to Jasobant, he has been working as a DlR under Bhitarkanika National Park over last 22 years and has been eking out his living with a monthly remuneration of Rs 6,420. The Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Rajnagar has entrusted him to take care of Gori, which is said to be one of the treasure troves of Bhitarkanika and a rare albino in Asia sub continent.
“Every day, my first duty is to take care of the captive albino Gori and to feed her crab twice. I find tremendous pleasure of taking care of the albino that is the key of attraction for the tourist at Bhitarkanika National Park as most of the tourists generally visit to take a glimpse of the albino,” stated Jasobanta .
Whenever he goes with taking some crabs in a plastic bucket to the pen of Gori and starts beating the bucket by calling Gori’s name, the albino comes near him. “I feel as if Gori always waits eagerly for me to eat crab from my hand. I often think as if I had a bond with Gori in my earlier birth,” Jasobanta added.
Though Gori is ferocious in nature, but the captive female albino behaves friendly to his caretaker. Never had the reptile showed any aggression to him. “I used to clean Gori once in a fortnight by tying the reptile in a fishing net,” informed Jasobanta.
Apart from taking care of Gori, Jasobanta too has been entrusted by the forest department to nurture the hatchlings, yearlings and juvenile salt water crocodiles.
Jasobanta is an integral part in the conservation of wildlife and forest at Bhitarkanika. Whenever a crocodile strays into a nearby pond of the village or a viper or a python enters into the house of a village located at the fringes of Bhitarkanika, then Jasobanta is called to rescue the reptile, said Rajnagar DFO Bimal Prasanna Acharya.
Jasobanta managed to rescue 22 pythons whereas he also rescued seven King Cobras that strayed into the human habitations from the park.