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Feel for the Four-legged

By Rituparna Goswami Pande |

It is heartwarming to know that there are people and organizations that care to spare a thought for our four legged counterparts with whom we share this earth. Yes, it is a respite after the horrible incidents of poachers brutally mutilating rhinos to possess their horns to realize that scarred rhinos are being nurtured to health and returned to where they belong.

The lions Club of Guwahati Seva has decided to donate a hydraulic tail-lift to the People For Animals (PFA). Sick and injured animals which are generally pulled by chains and ropes to be transported to hospitals will no longer have to undergo pain as the Hydraulic Lift will be used to pick them from streets to the PFA hospital. The lift will be formally handed over to the PFA by the International president of the Lion’s Club, Mahendra Amarasuriya, at a function to be held at the Pragjyoti Cultural Complex in Machkhowa.

Shalini jain, the public relations officer of lions Club of Guwahati Seva, emphasized the utility of the lift.

Sangeeta Goswami the chairperson of PFA was all praise for the Lions Club for providing them with the hydraulic lift.

Recently the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation nursed back to health a young rhino who survived a attack by poachers when she was merely one and a half years old. Her story is heart rending. Rescuers had found her hiding in a ditch, dehydrated and in a state of shock , two days after she was orphaned. The calf is now set to be released at the Basbari range of the Manas National park, some 430 km from Kaziranga where she was treated.

Saddened by the increased rate of poaching incidents of one-horned rhinos in Kaziranga National Park hitting the headlines, an association of Assamese and Northeast NRIs have urged the Government to declare poachers as terrorists. Rajen Barua, president of Friends of Assam & Seven Sisters, in a letter to the media in Guwahati, said that the responsibility of providing security to rhinos and other inmates of Kaziranga should be handed over to the Army.

A World Heritage Site, Kaziranga, whose area was increased from 430 sq km to 890 sq km eight years ago, currently has 435 guards to protect 1,800-odd rhinos, 86 tigers and hundreds of other species. State Forest and Environment Minister Rockybul Hussain has admitted that the Government has not been able to provide enough manpower to protect the animals.

The need of the hour is to provide adequate manpower and round the clock video surveillance if we seriously want to bring down poaching.

The fault lies with us,the people and its no use blaming the government or any body for that matte for compassion for animals is a trait which is lacking in us. There are very few of us who spare a thought for the welfare of animals. Our system of governance simply distributes portfolios to ministers at random without considering the qualifications or suitability of the men with their posts. For instance it should be a pre requisite for a forest minister to be compassionate toward animals or he or she should be a wildlife or animal activist. Then only then can we provide a safe and comfortable environment to the animals in the wild or otherwise. Similar should be the case with forest guards who are responsible for the safety and protection of the animals.

When we are unable to apprehend a handful of poachers in a given area such as the Kaziranga National Park we should simply forget about hopes of curbing terrorism.

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Rituparna Goswami Pande's picture

Journalist, writer

Comments

charlie's picture

Submitted by charlie on Sun, 02/03/2008 - 05:40
its grt again to see u article after long back, in u article u really give a most burning issue of Assam, we proud of Kaziranga but if govt. is not serious about this may be they will serious where there will be no any rhino in Kaziranga if govt .is waiting for that, that is now people feel, and govt. and govt dept make festival in a year in Kaziranga and want to saw assam people that how we protect Kaziranga its really funny, if govt really serious about it and lot of people and organisation gave donaton and help to protect Kaziranga from their hard working money as it mention u article how they serious better then govt. in u article minister admit its failure and way u given data about how men power is there in our Kaziranga and u have given good suggestion of increased manpower and 24 hour surveillance and i add here make govt took it most priority and as same govt is in Delhi so better minister go to delhi and demand centre make a task force with night vision binocular with sophisticated arms with lot of vehicles and modern equipments and put electric fencing at night with increased men power, if they canth do it better they should surrender to n.g.o they will do better then govt with help of people .go ahead with u article in different field as i feel most of them like u article as they always intereshthing and appreciated
jay's picture

Submitted by jay on Thu, 06/03/2008 - 18:35
I was watching a very popular epic couple of days ago with my daughter and somewhere the old wise says to the king that his responsibility is not only to his son but it encompasses the entire kingdom, the nature including birds, animals, trees etc. I guess the king is a symbol here, the message is eternal and we have in our comforts forgotten all together. The child was watching very seriously and in the end simply said ‘HE MUST BE JOKING’. Now I don’t blame the child, but the system, the values which should be inculcated at home, we completely and simply ignore them. To put the blame on system is pretty simple, but the million dollar question here is WHERE DOES THE BOUNDARY OF THE SYSTEM STARTS? I don’t want to question the sincerity of PFA’s and Lion Club’s, but when I see them on Page 3 with celebrities (irony is that many of them are facing cases in wildlife aggression), it looks like a circus to public. In that epic another question which was raised was that when man feels he is not getting his dues from within the boundary of system, he will cross and trespass into nature to grab whatever he can to fulfill his greed/needs and same is true for opposite. Nature will ask for substitute from your boundary if you start crossing your limits and go into natural habitats. Stories of Elephants crossing in Assam are as common as Deer visiting you back yard garden in Victoria but there is difference, out here cruelty against animal is a serious business, one gets a fine up to 10,000 Dollars for Killing ANY Animal and if you happen to hit an animal it could be up to 5K $ and imprisonment and they don’t spare you for that. But in India, we have made a muck out of this whole issue, it is just another photo shoot event for newspaper and that’s it. Poachers are not an issue, implementation of rules with iron fist is the demand for the day. Sensitive writer, you are, no doubt, you can be better.

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