The authorities of the Kaziranga National Park have requisitioned the services of a dog squad of the Border Security Force for conducting anti-poaching operations in and around the park areas.
“Deployment of sniffer dogs has a psychological impact, particularly on those residents of the villages in the vicinity of the park who provide shelters to poachers. In the past, we had utilised the service of the Army’s dog squad in an anti-poaching operation,” said a senior park official. He said a formal request in this regard had been placed with the BSF camp official near the Panbari range of the park following the recent killings of rhinos.
Poachers killed a full grown adult female rhino under the Kohora range of the KNP on the midnight of February 23 and gouged out its horn. The official pointed out the modus operandi suggested that the poachers had taken shelter in a nearby village and succeeded in carrying out a well-planed operation.
“Hence, in such a situation, deployment of a dog squad is expected to produce some results. Top BSF officials expressed their keenness to help us in conducting anti-poaching operations to protect endangered wildlife. BSF personnel have been carrying out joint patrolling duties with our frontline staff which, we hope, will help check poaching activities.”
During the 2009 Kaziranga Rhino Population Estimation, the population in this UNESCO World Heritage Site was found to be 2,048. Poachers have killed six rhinos across the State since January.
