A Centrally-funded Rhino protection force will be raised in four to six months to secure the great rhinoceroses.
local youths would be involved in the force to effectively prevent poaching in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam which is home to famous one horned Rhinoceroses and other diverse range of wild-life.Union Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “electronic surveillance would be installed in six corridors” which would pick up “activities” from a long distance and help foil attempts of poaching.
Kaziranga National Park has been granted “maximum protection” under the Indian law for wildlife conservation but wanton killing of Rhinos have hardly stopped.Poaching activities, particularly of the rhinoceroses for its horn, has been a major concern for the authorities. Between 1980 and 2005, 567 rhinoceroses were hunted by poachers.
Talking to newspersons in BJP office, the Minster claimed that towers erected for the electronic surveillance would spot within 3 km radius activities of poachers and relay information to the authorities. Contrary to the claims of authorities, Tigers, Elephants and Rhinos have been regularly either killed by poachers or mowed down by trains, electrocuted by live wires left unattended or done to death in man-animal conflict.