Second floating camp for Kaziranga

GUWAHATI: With monsoons just a couple of months away, the Kaziranga National Park now has a second floating camp to deal with poachers. The miscreants usually take advantage of floods to hunt down animals inside the protected area.
The 65-foot-long and 14-foot-wide boat will serve as a floating camp primarily to man the northern boundary of the park which is surrounded by the Brahmaputra.As this particular boundary is comparatively remote as compared to others, wildlife population is more concentrated here.
David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) and Aaranyak and BBC Wildlife Fund jointly donated the boat to the park authorities on Friday. "We at DSWF are committed to assisting the Kaziranga authorities in protection and conservation of wildlife. They have all our support," Mary Nugent, an employee at DSWF said.
Lack of adequate well-equipped anti-poaching floating camps crippled the management while dealing with poachers. During monsoons nearly 70 per cent of the sanctuary remains under water. Kaziranga is Unesco's only World Heritage site in the state.
With the Brahmaputra flowing nearby, the thieves get a relatively easy access to the park. However, anti-poaching floating camps will be deployed to keep vigil on banks round the clock. "We desperately needed floating camps to rein in illegal onslaughts. The latest addition has added to our anti-poaching mechanism," director S N Buragohain said.
The park got the first dedicated floating anti-poaching camp in January earlier this year. It can accommodate 10 staff and is equipped with sleeping arrangements and cooking facilities. It was donated by the Rhino Foundation for Nature In North Eastern Region and US Fish &Wildlife Service. Authorities said that for a foolproof patrol unit along the river needs at least four floating camps, of which two have already been provided.
The latest survey said Kaziranga had registered a rise in the number of one-horned rhinos lately. The survey conducted between April 9 and 10, found 2048 one-horned rhinos in 863 square kilometre area of Kaziranga. There has been a rise of 193 one-horned rhinos from 2006, when there were only 1855 of them.
"Out of 2048 rhinos, 597 were males and 306 were females. There were 165 rhinos whose gender could not be ascertained," Buragohain added.