food for thought

Recently two leopards met unfortute ends within a month at Jorhat district in upper Assam. The first one was trapped near the Bhogdoi river and beaten to death. The second leopard was a full-grown female, discovered by villagers in a forest near Nimatighat beside the Brahmaputra. Searching for firewood, the villagers came near the leopard which attacked. Soon the word spread and an angry mob surrounded the leopard, thrashed it mercilessly, hung its body from a tree and cut off its whiskers and ils. Another sad incident took place near Dhokuakho in the Brahmaputra’s north bank. A local farmer’s cow was killed while grazing by a pack of dogs. The angry farmer poured poison over the cow’s carcass to teach the dogs a lesson. Instead vultures and crows which fed upon the carcass were poisoned. Forest officials found 30 vultures lying dead, most of which were of an endangered variety that had flown down from the Himalayas during the winter. The third such incident took place in lower Assam, near south lbari. Suddenly thousands of fish like magur, borali, goroi, kawoi, singi, puthi and other local varieties were seen floating dead in a stream called Jahajan. Farmers in the area who use the stream waters to irrigate their fields found that someone had poisoned the entire stream by pouring harmful chemicals in it. These three recent incidents show that many people in the State are totally ignorant about the value of wildlife. Apart from food, we obtain many useful things from plants and animals. They have amazing properties which scientists are discovering in the laboratory all the time. This ever-increasing knowledge can help us lead a better life. Assam along with the entire Northeast is among the 18 regions in the world richly blessed with bio-resources. It makes practical sense to safeguard such a valuable resource. But morally too, human beings as the highest form of thinking life on Earth, have a sacred duty to protect other beings. Animals, whether wild or domestic, are not for our cruel sport. We must understand their ture and help them live, for they may be the key to our survival one day.