Anti-poaching patrol boat launched to protect Kaziranga

The new boat purchased to patrol the brder of Kaziranga NP. Credit DSWF

May 2009. As part of its support for the tiger and rhino projects in Kaziranga National Park (KNP), the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation helped launch an anti-poaching patrol boat on the Brahmaputra River. The river, which forms the northern and eastern borders of Kaziranga, is the sixth largest in the world and has been identified as a weak point in the park's protection. While the interior of the park is guarded by a network of 139 anti-poaching camps, each manned by four armed guards, the river border -equating to some 80 kilomteres - has, until now, not been effectively patrolled.

DSWF's work in Assam is centred on anti-poaching programmes to protect the Indian rhino and tiger populations in the national parks, and with help from DSWF supporters in the UK and a grant secured from the BBC Wildlife Fund they were able to build and equip an anti-poaching boat camp that will help protect Kaziranga's eastern border from the threat of poachers. The boat has been handed over to the Forest Department who will now operate and maintain it.

"The importance of this moment cannot be underestimated," said the Divisional Forest Officer, Dibyadgar Gogi, on accepting the boat. "It is the result of global cooperation - from UK funding to local craftsmanship and community support - for the protection of some of the world's most endangered species."
While one part of the project is now complete - patrolling the river and protecting the park - the real work is only just beginning.

DSWF works with Assam NGO - The Aaranyak Society - to carry out its crucial work in the area and would like to thank all its supporters in the UK, and those who gave so generously to the BBC Wildlife Fund, for helping to make the launch possible.

Another boat required
"The river is huge and the hope is that we can now raise additional funding to build another boat to patrol the river and keep this pristine park and its wildlife safe," says DSWF's Mary Nugent.

Courtesy of David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation