Valmiki Tiger Reserve

Patna, June 19: Rhino trackers and field officials deputed in Madanpur range of Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), located around 320km north of Patna, will now have to be on their toes to keep a count of the mammals in the forest.

The VTR director has issued an order asking the officials and trackers to click photos of rhinos the moment they spot them anywhere in the reserve and attach the photos with the report they submit every month.

Earlier, the officials used to submit reports on the movement of rhinos of the area based on information gathered from the villagers.

“The Madanpur range officer already has one digital camera at his disposal and I have directed him to provide digital cameras to three rhino trackers as well, so that whenever they see a rhino moving in the field they can click its photographs and submit it to me along with the monthly report,” VTR director J.P. Gupta told The Telegraph.

Giving reasons for issuing the directive, Gupta said, “While, on one hand, it would provide updated information about the presence of rhinos, on the other, it would also keep tabs on the work of field officials and rhino trackers, as for clicking the photographs they will have to move in the field.”

The three rhinos, which have made the Madanpur range of VTR their home, had come to the area from adjoining Chitwan National Park of Nepal around six years ago. Since then they have stayed in the area.

The VTR director has also asked the field personnel to stay in the reserve during night hours. “I have asked them to set up temporary structures in the field so that they could stay their at night and keep track on the movement of rhinos,” Gupta said.

Sources in VTR said the director issued these directives as neither the range officer nor the rhino trackers were “discharging their duty in the right spirit as far as keeping track on the rhinos” was concerned.

“These officials used to submit reports about the movement of rhinos on the basis of information gathered from the villagers. The director found out this fact during his recent visit to the range after which he issued these directives,” said the source.

The VTR director, however, refused to comment on this information claiming it was the duty of the management to keep taking steps which could help in better management of manpower deputed to safeguard the wild animals.

The step taken by the VTR director assumes significance as in May this year, the Valmiki Nagar range of the reserve witnessed poaching of a female rhino, which too had come from Chitwan National Park.

The sluggishness of field officials came to the fore in this poaching case, as they could find the carcass of the rhino only on May 10, almost a week after it was poached. It led to suspension of a forest guard and a forester.