Rajasthan ensures wild animal safety through ex-army men

Wild animals living in various sanctuaries and reserves, particularly the Sariska Tiger Reserve and the Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary, may soon be more safe, thanks to a Rajasthan Government initiative to recruit ex-army men to monitor and protect them in their natural habitat.

By Lokendra Singh

Sariska (Rajasthan), Aug.6 : Wild animals living in various sanctuaries and reserves, particularly the Sariska Tiger Reserve and the Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary, may soon be more safe, thanks to a Rajasthan Government initiative to recruit ex-army men to monitor and protect them in their natural habitat.

The new team will act as rangers in Sariska and Ranthambore.

Laxmi Narayn Dave, the State Minister for Forests, said: "Owing to lack of staff, the State Government has decided to recruit 1,000 retired army personnel. I feel it is a good step. It will certainly help in protecting the wildlife and the forest."

"Be it poaching, illegal mining or other incidents in the forests, it will be checked. They will prove to be very useful," Dave added.

Having already faced a major setback over reports of tigers being poached in the Sariska tiger reserve, the State Government is now worried about the future of tigers in Ranthambore.

State authorities feel army soldiers can prove to be more efficient, as they have already undergone rigorous training while in the defence services.

Colonel Rajiv Ratan, Director with the Directorate of Resettlement under Ministry of Defence, said: "Poaching is continuing in many reserve forests. Their (army) best strength is that they are trained soldiers. They are physically fit; they know how to handle such things, use weapons and protect others."

"They are sincere to their job and dependable persons. They have spent their lives defending the country and no matter what job you give them they will excel in it," Ratan added.

Retired army personnel are enthusiastic about the prospect of working on this new mission.

Bachchu Singh, a retired armyman, said: "The performance of army men has been good, and they take up various tasks involving risks. They can work well in the reserves as they are trained people and know all kinds of job well."

The age eligibility for the job is upto 40 years. There are about 1,000 vacancies.

Spread over 866 kilometre area, the Sariska Tiger Reserve is a national park, located in the Rajasthan's Alwar District, about 107 kilometres from Jaipur, the State capital.

Originally a hunting preserve of the erstwhile ruler of Alwar State, the area was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955. In 1978, it was declared a Tiger Reserve, and is now a part of the country's Project Tiger scheme.

Some of the wildlife found in Sariska include leopards, jungle cat, hyena, jackal, chital, sambar, carecal, langur, wild boar, four-horned deer (chowsingha) and several species of birds.

There are no tigers in Sariska any more.

Rajasthan has two national tiger reserves, Ranthambore and Sariska. The Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur is famous for its bird life.

During a recent meet on tigers' plight, conservationists observed that Indian tigers were facing their severest crisis with only between 1,300-1,500 left in the wild, less than half the population of endangered big cats previously estimated.

The latest estimates are based on a tiger census by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India, due to be made public later this year.

It is based on a new counting method and contradicts the previous figure of 3,642 reported by the 2001 and 2002 census.

India is believed to have around half the world's surviving tigers. But their numbers have fallen drastically due to poaching to meet a demand for skins as well as bones and other body parts for use in traditional Chinese medicines.

ANI