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Thu Feb 21 07:10:14 CST 2008

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Media mission to safeguard a forest minister over
rhinos
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By Nava Thakuria, Journalist / News reporter

It may be vital for many to save the endangered rhinos
in India's celebrated parks, but for a section of
media persons in Northeast, it seemingly becomes more
important to safeguard the forest minister. While
wildlife lovers around the globe rail against the
authority of Kaziranga National Park for its failure
to protect one horn rhinos, a section of journalists
in Guwahati continue manufacturing stories glorifying
the initiative of the State forest minister.

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It may be vital for many to save the endangered rhinos
in India's celebrated parks, but for a section of
media persons in Northeast, it seemingly becomes more
important to safeguard the forest minister. While
wildlife lovers around the globe rail against the
authority of Kaziranga National Park for its failure
to protect one horn rhinos, a section of journalists
in Guwahati continue manufacturing stories glorifying
the initiative of the State forest minister.

Those journalists, representing national and
inter-national news agencies, tried their best to
project a different picture where the minister has
been praised lavishly for his immediate actions
against the poachers in Kaziranga. But those stories
really missed the public furies, local media's concern
and wildlife activities' sustained voices against the
ongoing poaching in the park, which had recently
celebrated a hundred years of success in preserving
the precious inmates.

Mentionable that, Kaziranga lost 20 rhinos during 2007
to poachers and it is an all time high in the last
decade. The new year began with more sad news. Within
the fifth week of 2008, four rhinos fell prey to the
poachers in the same park, which was long identified
as a safe heaven for the rhinos. A census in 1984
showed that Kaziranga, which was declared a National
Park in 1974, had 1,080 rhinos. The number was found
increasing up to 1069 in another census during 1991.
The census in 1999 provided more optimistic result as
the number of rhinos soared to 1,552. The last census
in 2006 revealed the number of rhinos as high as 1,855
in the park. Amazingly Kaziranga gives shelter to
almost two third of the total population of one horn
rhinos on Earth.

The park normally loses 10 to 15 rhinos annually from
natural causes and poaching. Rhinos live an average of
40 years, and in the last 10 years 705 rhinos have
died, only 71 of them lost to poachers (the rest died
natural deaths). In fact, the poaching of rhinos
reduced in the last few years. Statistics reveal that
altogether only five rhinos were killed during 2006.
The previous year (2005) witnessed the slaughtering of
seven rhinos. During 2004, four rhinos become victims
of poaching. It was again less in 2003, where poachers
killed only three rhinos, four in 2002, eight in 2001,
four in 2000, four in 1999 and so on.

Called black ivory, the rhino horn is prized as an
aphrodisiac and a cure for many ills in traditional
Oriental medicine, selling for thousands of dollars
per kilogram. A single horn can fetch as much as
$40,000. Rising incomes across Asia mean that demand
for powdered rhino horn is on the increase. And
sophisticated poachers are ranging farther and farther
to fetch it although there is scant scientific
evidence that powdered rhino horn has any medicinal or
sexual value.

But veterinarians, say that's nonsense. It is nothing
but superstition. The horns are nothing but compact
masses of agglutinated hair and rhinos use them for
defense against other animals. There is no scientific
analysis that the rhino horn powder could stimulate
human sex, said a Guwahati based animal physician.

Even so, the rhinos are still being slaughtered for
their horns. The poachers use various methods to kill
the giant animal. The easiest way remains shooting it
with guns (many times fitted with a silencer). There
are reports that the poachers often use telescopic
rifles that can fire bullets from a long distance.
Sometimes, the poachers come inside the park during
the night (Kaziranga has no fencing or walls on the
boundary) and dig a hole on the path, which rhinos
often use. One very interesting aspect of the rhinos'
habit is that the animal defecates at a particular
place continuously for many days. The poachers first
identify the path littered with the heap of dung and
plan accordingly. In fewer occasions, high-tension
electric lines are also used to kill the pachyderm.

The park director Suren Buragohain argues all the
time, "The poachers are equipped with sophisticated
weapons. But our forest guards lack the proper arms to
counter them. The park, he says, badly needs more
guards with advanced arms and ammunition.
Incidentally, Buragohain earns brickbats from the
wildlife lovers as his tenure witnessed the rapid
increase in rhino poaching at Kaziranga. Statistics
reveal that during his term (still to cross 12 months)
as the director, Kazirnaga lost the highest number of
rhinos in a decade.

As the director was clueless to the grave threats to
rhino poaching in Kaziranga, the State forest minister
showed an equally insensitive and callous approach to
the issue. All the time, the young minister in Tarun
Gogoi's cabinet, preferred to ignore the matter. It
finally compelled the All Assam Students' Union, an
influential students' organization in the Northeast to
come to the streets. AASU activists staged
demonstrations on February 2 in front of the forest
offices in all parts of Assam to protest against the
authority's failure in protecting the rhinos. The AASU
advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya went on demanding the
immediate resignation of Rockybul Hussain as the
forest minister of Assam 'for failing to take adequate
steps to stop this heinous crime against a national
treasure'.

Earlier, the conscious citizens, political party
members and media editorials expressed their deep
anguish against the continued slaughtering of rhinos
in Assam, particularly at Kaziranga, in the last few
months. The newspaper readers and television viewers
had a shocking experience in January, when they were
exposed to a horrible visuals of a wounded rhino at
Kaziranga. The mother rhino had already lost her calf.
Probably she tried in vain to save her calf, which was
killed by the poachers for its horn. Then it was her
turn to fall victim in a more tragic away. The
poachers cut her horn, when she was alive and took it
away. For the nest two days the rhino fought with
death with her severe wounds on mouth and finally
succumbed to her injuries.

Meanwhile, an active NGO of the region came out with a
strong allegation that the authority itself was some
how involved with the illegal trade of rhino horns.
Addressing the scribes at Guwahati Press Club on
February 4, Soumyadeep Datta, the director of Nature's
Beckon argued that the forest department of Assam has
not preserved the rhino horns (with ivory and other
wildlife organs) in their custody. Nature's Beckon
received some vital information (regarding the number
of rhino horns and other precious wildlife organs)
from the Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) of
Assam exercising the Right to Information Act 2005.

As the CCF (Wildlife) MC Malakar informed that only
1498 horns are being preserved in the custody of the
forest department till date, Soumyadeep Datta claims
that it was too less. He revealed, "We have authentic
information that till 1972 Assam forest department
used to sell the rhino horns. We suspect, the
department continued to sell rhino horns even after
1972, the year the government of India prohibited
hunting of wildlife and their trade by enacting laws.

Poaching is a punishable offence in India with 7 years
imprisonment. India is a party to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species since 1976
and hence bound by all its efforts to eliminate
International trade in wildlife and wildlife parts,
discloses Mr Datta. He added, "We suspect that a large
share of the wildlife parts, which are being sold in
the international markets every year, make their way
from the forest department's stock due to the
manipulations and corrupt practices of some of the
dishonest forest officials." Hence we demand a Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to examine the
entire issue of poaching and illegal wildlife organ
(like rhino horn, ivory, skin of tiger and leopard)
trading, stated Mr Datta.

But all the hue and cries of the concerned people of
the region were not taken into consideration by a
section of news agency reporters in Guwahati, who
continued reporting the version of the authority and
the forest minister. Taking his cue from the last
incidence of rhino killing at Kaziranga on February 5,
one senior reporter had gone to such extent of
reporting, where he described the forest minister as
seeking a CBI enquiry into the matter. The New Delhi
based news agency, IANS on February 5 (contributed by
a Guwahati based reporter) described - "We want a CBI
to investigate the sudden increase in rhino poaching
incidents at Kaziranga," Assam Forest and Environment
Minister Rockybul Hussain told journalists.

The question arises whether a journalist (or an
agency) should ignore other developments in a
particular situation?  And whether a minister seeking 
an enquiry into the  ministry under his charge, does
not point to his own incompetence? Surprisingly, the
reporter missed these vital points and parroted the
version of the forest minister, maybe because of his
ignorance. But in reality, the minister expressed his
version as 'we have no reservation against a CBI
enquiry into the matter of increasing cases of rhino
poaching' in Kaziranga. Facing the heat, the forest
minister also rushed to Kaziranga on February 6 to
take stock of the situation.

A second story was  differently headlined but said the
same thing. Neither reported what PTI did, "The All
Assam Students' Union (AASU) on Saturday (February 2)
staged a state-wide dharna to protest against the
state government's alleged failure in checking rhino
killing by poachers in the Kaziranga National Park. 
"
and so on. One of the stories carried by IANS, it was
never mentioned that actually an environment NGO
demanded a CBI enquiry into the matter earlier than
the minister. 

Similarly, the Guwahati based reporter of AP, tried to
paint a rosy picture of Rockybul Hussain, while
narrating that the authorities at Kaziranga deployed
100 armed guards to check the poachers. It quoted the
minister as saying, "We are alarmed at the seemingly
organized poaching by gangs at the Kaziranga National
Park." Also added in the February 6 news, "We have
decided to rush 100 armed guards to Kaziranga and to
equip the existing forest guards with 200 better
rifles to match weapons used by the poachers." In
reality, the news depicted the forest minister in such
a way that nobody needs to worry about the poaching of
rhinos, while Rockybul Hussain continues to be a
minister.

Amazingly the news agency, based in New York, avoided
the public furies against the forest department as
well as the minister cleverly. Talking about the
particular news item, released by AP and subscribed by
a number of international media outlets, a serious
reader may find it as a cleverly moulded piece by an
experienced (and loyal) public relations official on
behalf of his master. But if a journalist turns into
PR personnel in their approach, a child in today's
world can understand that it was not without any
personal and hefty gain. A legitimate question that
might arise here, whether a reporter has the right
(under the Indian constitutional provision) to project
a development with his very personal point of view
that could even degrade the entire episode of saving
the endangered rhinos to safeguard the minister of
Assam from brickbats?

AUTHOR: Nava Thakuria

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