Darrang youth’s fight against poachers restores wildlife, wins state forest award

Mangaldai, Oct 20: The Sipajhar area in Darrang district is home to numerous natural water bodies, such as Meru Pukhuri, Dauki Dal , and Beng Noi, along with several small forest patches, including the Jhagari forest. These water bodies and forests serve as natural habitats for various species of birds, reptiles, jackals, wildcats and other small mammals.

Sadly, the existence of these creatures is currently under threat due to continuous attacks by miscreants. However, the threat has been thwarted to a considerable extent due to the vigilant role of a few local people.

Sanjib Kumar Nath of Paschim Chuba village is one such young Nature lover and he has been working tirelessly to protect wildlife from poachers and has achieved commendable success.

Sanjib, with the support of a couple of local community organisations like the ‘Manomilan Sangha’ of Sholpam village and ‘Na Yuvak Sangha’ of Pacchim Chuba, along with a few local Nature enthusiasts, has often been confronting poachers over the past four years, confiscating their hunting equipment, and either handing them over to the police or driving them away with warnings to prevent their return.

Sanjib has also been raising public awareness by putting up banners and posters at his own expense and organising meetings to educate people about the punitive measures that can be taken against violators of the wildlife protection laws.

It is due to the selfless efforts of Sanjib that numerous birds, which had flown away after becoming homeless due to felling of many roadside trees for widening of the Sipajhar-Pathorighat road, have now started to return to the area.

He regularly provides food and water to hundreds of birds and also plants saplings from his own nursery along the roadside to restore the lost natural habitat. To provide shelter for birds, he has constructed bamboo shelters for the ‘ghar sirika’ and wooden nests for the endangered ‘kath salika’ (wood mainah) and placed them on tree branches, rooftops, etc.

Sanjib has also started efforts for parrot conservation and has attained notable success in this regard. At present, he and his associates are busy protecting the migratory birds that arrive at the water bodies of the Sholpam area during the winter season.

In recognition of his selfless contributions to forest and wildlife conservation for the last four years, Sanjib was awarded by the State forest department at the closing ceremony of 71st Wildlife Week celebration at Guwahati recently.