GUWAHATI, May 21 � Governor PB Acharya has expressed serious concern over reports of the United Nations voicing its concern over rhino poaching in Assam, saying that immediate steps should be taken to improve facilities to the forest guards and the people living near the forests should be used as a second line of defence to check poaching.
In a statement the Governor said all flora and fauna should be allowed the privilege to be born free, live free and die free in their natural habitats.
The Governor expressed the view that Assam would not be able to retain its own identity if the one-horned rhino, the symbol of the State, became extinct. He said immediate steps would have to be taken by the people themselves to prevent rhinos from becoming extinct.
This was a most urgent issue, particularly so because of the catastrophic and ghastly effects of global warming caused by deforestation and other destructive elements which eventually would result in an ecological imbalance of epical proportions, which would not only reduce people�s life-spans but would also threaten the longevity of the entire universe, said the Governor.
It was more alarming to read news regarding the UN concern that it was not only the rhino that was in peril, but even the eastern swamp deer was facing a grave threat along with the rhino in the Manas wildlife sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Governor Acharya said the only answer lay in making an all-out effort to save the animals. �Which, in the most appropriate words, means that it is time for all of us to realise that it is high time for all of us to take up the cudgels against the poachers. We must declare an all-out war against them. Those whose only aim is to annihilate the flora and fauna must first be exterminated by all means,� he said.
