Yangoupokpi sanctuary under threat

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Feb 10 : The team of journalists camping at Tamenglong as a part of 'Know Your Sanctuaries and Wetlands' media campaign have come across signs at Yangoupokpi Lokchao Wildlife Sanctuary that might be a possible threat to the flora and fauna there.
Know Your Sanctuaries and Wetlands media campaign is an initiative of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union organised under the sponsorship of Department of Forest and Directorate of Environment and Climate Change.
It may be mentioned that Yangoupokpi Lokchao  was recognised as Forest Reserve by Manipur State Darbar in 1946 and later  declared a Wildlife Sanctuary by the Forest Department in 1989.
The  total area of the sanctuary is 184.8 sq km.
As per Government record of 2003-2004 Census, the sanctuary is home to different fishes, reptiles, mammals, birds, plant  and trees such as hoolock gibbon, barking deer, leopard, pangolin, jungle cat, flying squirrel, slow loris, migratory Indian elephant, bear, wild boar, tortoise, viper, cobra, land monitor lizard, green snake, rat snake, jungle fowl, hawk, green pigeon, hornbills, cuckoo, myna, Indian drongo, common toad, tree frog, Indian bullfrog, dipterocarpus turbinatus, tectona grandis, melanorrhoea usitata, terminalia chebula, emblica officinatis.
However, this team of journalists saw no evidence of diverse  flora and fauna populating the sanctuary, possibly because of activities such as encroachment.
In 1989, the presence of only 28 villages was recorded, but the number has exceeded 60 today and this might be  one of the factors that is disturbing the ecological balance of this sanctuary.
Considering the possible threat posing to this once a diverse sanctuary, intervention of the State Government and the authority concerned would be proper to conserve nature.
Though there were no visible signs of wild animals, the journalists team heard a sharp cry possibly of gibbons (yong-mu) at Kwatha village. And in tracing the sound the journalists came across the 'path' that led to the sanctuary damaged by landslide.
A little further from the place where the cry was heard, the team spotted an alluring stream and a waterfall, but reaching there was a difficult task.
Speaking to media persons, Range Officer of Yangoupokpi Lokchao Wildlife Sanctuary, Khumukcham Ibodhem said that increasing number of human settlements in the sanctuary is one of the major factors that is threatening the survival of flora and fauna.  
He stated that there no reports of rampant hunting at the sanctuary.
As this sanctuary covers a large area, a 4 wheeler vehicle is highly required, he said and added that  guarding the sanctuary extensively on two wheel vehicles and limited manpower is extremely difficult.