Guwahati, September 22: Around 40 border police officials were sensitised on crimes against the greater one-horned rhinos and other species on  the occasion of International Rhino Day today.

The event took place in the Rangia Sectoral HQ of SSB and Aaranyak’s Project Officer and Wildlife Crime Analyst Ms Ivy Farheen Hussain spoke on the ongoing trend of crimes against rhinos and other important species with focus on how border police can play a part in deterring it.

It was part of a two-day wildlife crime prevention course arranged for the SSB officials and Aaranyak  was invited to take a sensitisation class.

For the past few years, SSB has been very active with wildlife cases- nabbing critical shipments of pangolin scales and tokay geckos and preventing international illegal wildlife trade.

Today's event also falls under Aaranyak's DETERS ©️ (Disrupt and End Trade of Endangered and Rare Species)  Initiative to tackle and deter wildlife crime and illegal wildlife trafficking.

Important questions regarding the procedures to follow when met with incidents of wildlife crimes and identification were discussed. More of such awareness and informal discussions are required in order to effectively open up chains to tackle wildlife crime cases.

Aaranyak was thanked by the SSB for its time for today's class and also requested to keep up this stakeholder relationship in order to effectively work together towards conservation.

The premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) has been relentlessly striving to create synergy among various stakeholders including Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) like SSB, ITBP, BSF, CISF as well as state police forces , customs officials, transport agencies besides forest officials  and village defence organisations (VDOs)for combating burgeoning trend of wildlife crime in this biodiversity rich frontier region of the country. Aaranyak’s resource team has been conducting many sensitisation workshops for all these agencies and forces to highlight the urgency for combined efforts to tackle wildlife crimes to preserve our wildlife and other bioresources.