Milroy, A.J.W., 1934. The preservation of wild life in India, no 3 Assam. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 37 (1) Suppl: 97-104
|
|
|
|
| |
| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - India - Assam |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
| Species: |
Asian Rhino Species |
 |
|
THE PRESERVATION OE WILD LIFE IN INDIA.
No. 3. ASSAM.
A. J. W. MiLROY. - (Conservator of Forests, Assam).
The question of affording adequate protection to game in Assam is a difficult one that we cannot expect will receive much local attention just now with so many important political changes staged for the immediate future, but in view of the innninence of these inevitable changes in administration it might be undesirable to postpone any longer the consideration of what system of preserving the fauna, whether the present one or something on different Mnes, will be most likely to survive the introduction of provincial autonomy.
Up to thirty years ago there were still very extensive unoccupied tracts in the Province, the first to disturb them being Gurkhali buffalo-keepers who began then to invade Assam with their herds, to be followed by ever-increasing hordes of immigrants, after the Brahmaputra Valley had become linked to Bengal by the railway.
Rules regarding close seasons had been framed at an early date for the Reserve Forests in conformity with practice in other parts of India, but game remained entirely unprotected in the waste lands known as Unclassed State Forests, until about 1910 when close seasons were introduced following a letter to The Times by Sir Harry Johnston on the indifference shown by Provincial Governments in India to the fate of their wild animals; but as no fees have ever been charged for shooting in the Unclassed Forests, there have been no funds for the maintenance of a special patrolling or protective staff, and the protection afforded by the rules alone has consequently been very meagre.
Types of Game Country.
Enormous areas of grass and reeds used to extend from the banks of the Brahmaputra towards the hills which enclose the valley on both sides, and it was here that most game used always to be found — rhinoceros, and swamp deer in the low-lying places, elephants, bison, and other deer nearer the hills — but these are precisely the very localities that attract the buffalo-herdsmen and the settlers, so that a great deal of this type of jungle has now disappeared for ever and it is only a matter of time before the most of the balance goes too. In these circumstances the policy adoj)ted a few years ago of issuing gun-licences almost indiscriminately has only accelerated what was bound eventually to take place, and what has already occurred in all countiles suffering from, or [98] blessed (as the less far-sighted hold) with, an increasing human population.
Most of the former great shooting grounds are thus being occupied exclusively by Man and nothing can be done in them for wild animals. There remain for consideration the Reserve Forests, which have been taken up mostly for timber, but which include as Game Sanctuaries two important grassy areas.
Dense, evergreen forests contain comparatively little fodder suitable for game animals, which prefer the more open and the deciduous tree forests, but everywhere in Reserves reasonable game preservation should be looked for, seeing that the sale of shooting permits is a possible source of revenue, that rules exist for the benefit of the various species of animals, and that a Forest Staff is provided by Government to uphold these and other Forest Laws. It must be confessed, however, that in Assam just as in Burma, judging from some recent Annual Forest Administration Reports from that Province, game preservation is largely a matter of individual whim, and that encouraging results obtained by one Divisional Forest Officer are onty too often dissipated during the regime of a successor, who is indifferent to this side of his multifarious duties.
The present Government cannot be accused of lack of keenness. Three years ago, a British Officer and a Company of Assam Rifles were detailed to spend six weeks touring a district where the inhabitants had got out of hand and were poaching in the Monas Game Sanctuary on a commercial scale, while at the present moment an energetic Assistant Conservator is on special duty at the head of an anti-poaching campaign that is doing some very good work indeed. The Assam Legislative Council have recently declared Rhinoceros horns to be forest produce wherever found, it has become much easier to deal into the trade in these, as horns are now liable to seizure unless their possession can be satisfactorily accounted for. No help from the centre, however, can make up for lack of interest on the part of the officers on the spot, though an enthusiastic Conservator can do much to overcome apathy, thanks to the tradition of loyalty in the Forest Service, but to be really effective he must possess both the time and the inclination to tour 'off the map' and away from the usual comfortable, stereotyped marching routes.
At the worst a certain amount of game of most sorts will linger on in the larger Reserves for some time yet, but not in the smaller ones which can be easily raided, and from which animals are always straying into settled lands bristling with guns ; at the best, if the Forest Department does not depart from the policy of recent years as regards Forest Villages and as regards demanding the co-operation in these matters of its subordinates, quite a fair number (in some places sufficient to allow of restricted shikar) of the more interesting species will survive in suitable localities within the forest boundaries.
Increased pressure on the outside land being likely to lead to a demand for catastrophic disforestation of cultivable areas inside the Reserves, it would appear to be advisable to proceed cautiously [99] when and where needs be, with the formation of Forest Villages, especially of non-resident villages which luckily for wild animals are preferable from the utilitarian point of view, as they do not waste good forest land in hamlet sites and cattle-grazing grounds. Forest Ofiicers in Assam will always be dependent on elephants for getting really inside their forests, and this again is lucky for the game, because it is essential permanently to set aside from settlement adequate and inviolable elephant grazing grounds while there is yet time, for want of whicli provident measure other Provinces have had to plant fodder at considerable expense for their Government elephants.
It would be illogical to allow villagers to grow crops in a forest and then to withhold from them the means of guarding the same, but the practice lately enforced of calling in guns for safe custody after the harvest is over is only logical and reasonable, and prevents the villagers from degenerating into professional poachers, as some of them have become in the past.
It had been intended, in order to obtain complete control, to acquire on behalf of Government all the guns owned by Forest Villagers for temporary issue at the right time, together with any others that might be necessary, but this measure has had to be postponed until funds become available again.
Game Sanctuaries .
The two Game Sanctuaries of which mention has been made are situated, the Monas towards the north-west on the Bhutan frontier and the Kazirunga in the centre of the valley on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. Both areas were originally selected for the Great One-horned Khinoceros (R. unicornis) they contained, and a very fine stock of these animals was raised as the result of the protection afforded. Kazirunga, the more low-lying, is particularly suited for buffalo too, the Monas for bison along the Bhutan boundary.
The rhinoceros, our most important animal from the natural history point of view, is a difficult species to preserve even though its destruction is forbidden by law, because all parts of its body may be eaten even by Brahmins and because its horn is reputed throughout the East to possess aphrodisiac properties, while it lays itself open to easy slaughter by its habit of depositing dung on the same heap day after day. The demand for rhinoceros' horns has always been considerable in India, but of recent years China has also been in the market, consequent on the practical extermination of R. sondaicus in Lower Burma, Tenasserim, etc., with the result that a horn is now worth just about half its weight in gold. The prospect of a lucrative business led to an organization being formed for passing on rhinoceros' horns and elephant tusks to Calcutta, and the disturbed political conditions provided the virile Boro tribes (Meches and Kacharies) living near the Monas with the opportunity to take up poaching on a large scale. The operations of the financiers in the background were checked for the time being; the advent of the Assam Rifles restored order; [100] additional game-watchers were engaged, and an Assistant Conservator was placed in charge of the Sanctuary to carry on the good work, but in view of what has happened in Burma, despite the best efforts of the authorities there, one cannot be confident that the fight we are putting up will not prove in the end to be a losing one if we merely continue on present lines.
A fundamental obstacle to success lies in the difficulty of identifying poachers unless these are actually caught in flagrante delicto, and this must always be a rare occurrence when members of a gang have only to separate and run a few yards into the high grass to evade capture.
Both Sanctuaries are at present inaccessible for want of roads and camping huts except to those who can travel light, such as poachers and gamewatchers, and to those who can command the use of elephants, such as Forest Officers and a few planters. It was pointed out some, years ago that this being so it would be quite possible, without the outside world being any the wiser at the time, for a dishonest subordinate in immediate charge of a Sanctuary to sell all the game while his Forest Officer, absorbed in other duties, was earning credit for the good work he might be doing elsewhere in the division. The loss would obviously be irreparable, and it was suggested that in these circumstances the western and eastern portions of the Monas Sanctuary, which with adjacent reserves contains an effective area of about 150 sq. miles, should be opened to shooting under very strict supervision, the bag being limited (wounded to count as killed) and very high fees being charged, while the central part was preserved inviolate for the benefit of those interested in studying or photographing wild animals. The Sanctuary is only 10 miles north of the Amingaon branch of the Eastern Bengal Railway, and the interior could very cheaply be made accessible to lorries and cars running up from the station by constructing a few cold weather roads in flat country; the whole journey from Calcutta would take less than twenty-four hours of comfortable travel.
It was felt that in this way a healthy publicity would be ensured, because anyone coming up to shoot or to photograph would have plenty to say if game was found to be very scarce, also that the Sanctuary would be put on a paying basis, for whether the East actually is or is not less materialistic than the West, it is certain that no Province will be able to afford idealistic Finance Ministers, and finally it was felt that overstocking of the ground could in this way be guarded against.
It is permissible to believe that the Sanctuaries might have some chance of survival if they could be made more or less self-supporting, but precious little otherwise, and the question is one on which, we may feel sure, advice from the Society from the depths of its experience would not be resented. The Assam of the future may very well be proud to think it is taking its stand by the side of other civilized countries in saving its fauna from extinction, but it is going to be a poor Province, at any rate to start with, and if only some revenue could be expected from shooting permits and from the sale of captured specimens to Zoological Gardens, [101] there would clearly be less initial hostility for the good cause to face.
Anything in the nature of a Public Park on the lines of the Kruger National Park would be out of the question unless it was under Imperial control because if the Assamese tax payer ever wants anything of this sort, he will certainly demand that all predatory and dangerous animals be removed before he disports himself m it.
Balipara Political Area.
Apart from the two Sanctuaries mentioned previously, the rhino have one remaining refuge, namely, the Balipara Political Area. Here some very valuable protection has been afforded to this animal in one area by a planter who is an enthusiastic game preserver. Efforts should be made now to enlist the sympathies of the authorities who will have to guard the welfare of frontier tracts for many years to come, and who will doubtless welcome more extended interest being taken in a matter that has now become of world-wide importance to naturalists.
The specially favourable factors in the case of the Balipara Political Area are : —
(1) It will permanently remain outside the influence of the new reforms.
(2) It consists very largely of Forest Reserves, which contain a number of rhino haunts, Gohpur, the Diputa, Gabharu, and Sonairupa rivers and, if buffalo-grazing was stopped, the Bor Dikrai.
(3) The tract is under a Political Officer who is provided with summary powers and the means of upholding them .
The possibilities here are obviously great, and the opportunity of achieving something permanent seems too good to be neglected.
Type of Game.
A few particulars regarding some of the species found in Assam are added by way of conclusion:
Elephant (E. maximus).
[102] The Great One-horned Rhinoceros (R. unicornis) has been dealt with already at sufficient length.
The Smaller One-horned Rhinoceros (R. sondaicus). — It is on record that Messrs. Rowland Ward identified the head and shield from a rhino shot by a Forest Officer in the Bengal Dooars as belonging to this species, and it would be strange if it did not also occur in the contiguous Goalpara Reserves and Monas Sanctuary. Pairs of smaller, less truculent, and definitely less armoured rhino can be put up in the Sanctuary and these, if not cases of R. unicornis pairing while still far from mature, must be specimens of R. sondaicus. Investigation into this is most desirable, and perhaps the Society could arrange for it being carried out in the course of time. The Kacharies recognize three varieties of rhino, and though their classification is not made on scientific lines, it does not follow therefrom that it is all moonshine.
The Sumatran Two-horned Rhinoceros (R. sumatrensis). — Formerly common in the Lushai and Manipur Hills and occasionally found in North Cachar, but by now almost hunted to the vanishing point by Lushais and Kukis. The opening up by forest villagers of several big patches of marshy land in the Forest Reserves of South Cachar seriously reduced the number of suitable haunts available for this species. Most of the remaining patches, however, will have to be kept closed to cultivation in order to preserve feeding-grounds for the timber-dragging elephants, and some special steps have already been taken to try and look after the few rhino still left alive in this difficult country where little control can be exercised over shikaries. The record flood of July, 1929, drove the rhino up into the hills and very few have been allowed by the Lushais to return.
|
|
|
The preservation of wild life in India, no 3 Assam
File available
details
Original text on this topic: