Arunachal: Field equipment provided to D. Ering Wildlife Sanctuary

Pasighat: Much to the respite of field staff of D. Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh who was in dire need of basic field kit support in order to carry out regular patrolling work, the Wildlife Conservation Society-India on Tuesday provided several field items to the field staffs in the presence of Divisional Forest Officer, Tasang Taga, Range Officer, Orin Perme.

WCS-India team led by Uttara Mendiratta, Programme Head Counter Wildlife Trafficking programme and Debasish Sarma, Administrative Manager-North-Eastern India Counter Wildlife Trafficking handed over boots, leech shocks, jackets, raincoats, head torches, multi-tools, sleeping bags, ponchos, waist pouches, bag-rucksack, camping tents, binoculars, smartphones, solar chargers, non-electrical water filters, GPS, camera traps including a set of computer and printer for office uses to the field staffs and officials at Borguli wildlife range.

The items were also given to Eco-Development Committee active field members as support toward the conservation and protection of the sanctuary’s rich flora & fauna. The WCS-India team is on a 2-day tour to the sanctuary from 28-29 March.

When asked, WCS-India’s Uttara Mendiratta informed that the field kit items distributed to the patrolling staff of the D. Ering WLS are an initiative to support and assist the field staff in carrying out effective fieldwork in order to protect the sanctuary.

“D. Ering WLS has a very vital landscape surrounded by different branches of the Siang river and is a beautiful sanctuary. We were not much familiar with the sanctuary, but Millo Tassar, a senior forest officer from Itanagar introduced us to the sanctuary and its requirements after seeing the good work of the sanctuary’s field staff on his recent visit to the sanctuary. After coming here we came to know the importance of this sanctuary and why the field staff of D. Ering WLS needs our support. We will try to introduce more NGOs to come and support this sanctuary. My husband is also a birding expert and enthusiast and so I will bring him here too”, said Uttara.

Meanwhile, Tasang Taga, DFO, Ering WLS expressed his thankfulness to the team WCS-India for the much-needed support and further appealed to the NGO to keep on supporting the field staff of this riverine island sanctuary which is the oldest wildlife sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh with sanctuary proclamation done during 1975, DFO posted since 1976 and final notification did during 1978.

“The sanctuary field staffs carry out protection work intensively to fully secure its flora and fauna, but less and inadequate support from the government often paralyses the sanctuary patrolling team”, said Taga.

Besides lacking basic field kit items for the sanctuary field staff, the POL shortages for patrolling by boats mostly affect the sanctuary’s normal patrolling work. Unlike other forest and wildlife divisions, D. Ering WLS needs sufficient fuels for patrolling by boat all around the sanctuary, but limited POL is provided to this sanctuary equal to other divisions. In this regard, I had repeatedly written to the higher authorities, but no attention was being given to us, resented Taga.  However, Taga hoped that the support from other NGOs like WCS-India, Aaranyak etc will give some respite to team D. Ering WLS.

Also Read | ChatGPT struggles with Wordle puzzles, which says a lot