Sanctuary | Conservation Action
personnel killed during the years of
armed insurgency, the last in 1997. The
range remains 'disturbed' though and as
recently as March this year, after camps
of the National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB, a designated terrorist
group) were detected in the inner
reaches through satellite imagery, Forest
Department staff and the IFAW-WTI
bear rehab team were asked to move
out while the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)
combed and sanitised the area.
We pass inspection at an SSB
checkpoint and take the Saurang-
Gabharukhunda road, snaking through
jungle so lush, so utterly overgrown with
creepers that even the tallest trees have
no discernible silhouette – as if the entire
landscape has been secreted under a
verdant tablecloth removable only by
autumn's withering hand. The rehabilitated
bear hasn't been seen near Kheroni since
the previous night but we encounter
49-year-old Pranab Kumar Das, theintrepid Range Forest Offi cer of Panbari.
Das, who has been in charge of
this troubled range for about a year
now, has stepped up patrolling and
developed a solid network of local
informers – an initiative that recently
bore fruit in the form of intelligence
that led to the arrest of six armed
poachers and the seizure of a tiger
skin. Staff strength is a problem
but the biggest issue, he declares, is
facing off with NDFB insurgents. "We
have .315 rifl es, they have automatic
weapons," he says grim-faced. "That
makes it a bit of a challenge."PART III: TRANSBOUNDARY
TROUBLE
Dr. Choudhury's charming home (built
from driftwood and styled like a forest
camp) abuts the southern edge of the
Bansbari Range, with only a jeep track
separating forest from village land. I amA rhino grazes in close proximity to cattle and villagers at the edge of the Bansbari Range inside Manas National Park. Grazing cattle within the Protected
Area is not only illegal but increases the chances of human-wildlife confl ict.startled awake one moonwashed night
to fi nd him shouting from his verandah:
Purabi, the youngest rehabilitated
female rhino has sneaked into the
compound and, fi nding nothing of
interest in the kitchen garden, is trying
to get into the adjacent paddy fi elds.
She retreats with a panicked huffi ng,
crashing through a bamboo fence on
her way back to the forest.
Crop raiding by wild herbivores is
a major hassle for village communities
living on the fringes of Manas. The aging
Bodo couple that owns the neighbouring
paddy fi elds seems perpetually bleary-
eyed, performing household duties by
day and watching over their crops in a
machaan by night. The periodic sound of
fi recrackers (used to scare wild animals
off croplands) punctuates every night
I spend in the area, suggesting that at
least during paddy season a good night's
sleep is a pipedream for local farmers.
For the moment though the porous