WWF-India’s North Bank Landscape office in Assam and H.O.P.E pays rich tribute to a dedicated foot solider of Kaziranga Sing Singnar (40) lived with his family in Natun Danga village in the foothills of Kukurakata adjacent to Kaziranga National Park in the state of Assam. ‘Sing da’ as he was fondly known to friends and colleagues, was a dedicated foot soldier of Kaziranga and knew the Burapahar Range of the National Park like the back of his hand. He could sense the presence of animals and predict their movement and behavior. His colleagues and co-workers would swear by his courage and agree that Sing da always loved to lead from the front. He would lead patrol parties during daily patrolling duty. He would also always be in his uniform during duty and carry his gun. He had been working for Kaziranga for the last 7-8 years. Sing was a constant companion of WWF-India’s tiger monitoring team during the annual tiger monitoring in the Burapahar Range. He doubled up as a navigator and guard at the same time never failing to turn up on time. He would do all in his capacity to ensure the safety of the team during field work. He even helped with setting up cameras and monitoring them, associating with the team like any other team member. On 8th of November 2013, we planned to visit some of the villages around Burapahar to meet the villagers and assess the human-elephant conflict scenario and what we could further do to help protect the crop fields. As usual we rang Sing, our point man, to set up a meeting with the village headman and some villagers. Sing’s brother took the call and his reply stunned us all. Sing was no more. He was attacked by a rhino and killed the day before. On the fateful day, Sing was at home when news of a stray rhino near the village came in. Since that is a common occurrence around villages on the fringe of Kaziranga, he casually walked out with a stick in hand. As he left the village and was walking down a slope in the direction where the rhino was reported from, he unexpectedly came face to face with the rhino. The rhino charged and caught up with him. Biting his leg the rhino flung him around till the leg detached from the body. Sing was later rescued by local people and forest officials who arranged to take him to the nearest hospital. Unfortunately, he could not make it to the hospital alive. Sing was the sole earning member of the family and somehow survived with his monthly salary. He is survived by his wife, who is said to be pregnant, and four children, three boys and one girl between 1.5 and 8 years old. Rest In Peace Sing da.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 06:50:37 +0000
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