Pasighat: As a part of their continued initiative toward conservation and protection of wildlife and nature whose exemplary kind gesture could inspire many other individuals and communities across the state, the Silluk Village Development Committee (SVDC) of Silluk village under Mebo Sub-Division here in East Siang District handed over a rescued Chinese Pangolin to the authorities of D. Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary on the day of ‘Unying Aaran’ festival of Adi community which is said to be the festival of hunting on Thursday.
The rescued Chinese Pangolin was handed over to C.K. Chowpoo, Range Officer, Borguli Wildlife Range of D. Ering WLS by SVDC President, Delem Damin, GS, Nabin Lego in the presence of Ashik Yirang, Head Gaon Burah, Kepang Nong Borang, President, Silluk Swachh Abhiyan (SSA), Addang Yirang, RFO, Lohit Forest Division, Tezu and Lenrik Konchok Wangmo, a research scholar from Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata besides members from SSA and wildlife staffs.
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The Pangolin was found chased and bruised by dogs near Silluk village, but the team of SVDC rescued the Pangolin and decided to get it released in the sanctuary for better safety of the little scaled animal because releasing back the rescued Pangolin in the village surroundings or other territorial forest areas would be a risk for the animal as anyone can hunt/kill it. So we decided to get it released in the wildlife sanctuary for its safety, as the wildlife sanctuary has better safety avenues for the wildlife”, said Kepang Nong Borang.
While handing over the rescued Pangolin to the Range Officer, the SVDC appealed to everyone to save and protect wildlife for better and healthy ecological balance as the wildlife population has been rapidly decreasing due to rampant hunting and poaching in the recent past. Speaking on the sideline of rescue and handing over of the Pangolin to the wildlife department, Silluk village, Head Gaon Burah, Ashik Yirang raised a serious concern of the village regarding regular crop raids by wild elephants due to which the villagers mostly suffer huge losses of crops. Yirang urged the government to construct EB fencing around the village agricultural sites to deter crop raids by wild elephants. Addang Yirang, who is also a forest officer from the Silluk village also spoke on the occasion and expressed his happiness over the conservation initiative of the SVDC.
RFO Borguli Wildlife Range, C.K. Chowpoo, expressed his thankfulness to the team SVDC led by Damin and SSA led by Borang for handing over the rescued Chinese Pangolin to the D. Ering WLS. Distributing T-shirts with a wildlife logo with the theme ‘Wildlife matters, save wildlife’ to the team of SVDC and SSA on the occasion, Chowpoo apprised them about the importance of wildlife and its conservation, benefits of wildlife conservation in terms of wildlife tourism, role of society in conservation etc. Civil societies also need to come forward in the conservation of wildlife and forests, as the department alone cannot fully conserve and protect the wildlife, added Chowpoo.
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Meanwhile, Divisional Forest Officer, D. Ering Wildlife Sanctuary, Kempi Ete has deeply appreciated the kind gestures of SVDC on the occasion of the Unying Aaran festival. Rescuing and handing over the endangered Chinese Pangolin to D. Ering WLS by SVDC and the team will inspire other like-minded and environment-loving people across the state, added Ete.
As per sources, the D. Ering Wildlife Sanctuary houses several numbers of Chinese Pangolins. Another Pangolin rescued by the SVDC/SSA team from Silluk village was released in the sanctuary in August.
The Chinese Pangolin is one of the three pangolin species classified as ‘critically endangered’ by IUCN in its latest assessment in 2019, IUCN prediction the population will decline by more than 80 per cent over the next three generations (up to 2040).