Equip Forest Guards to Protect Wildlife in India

Rakesh was a 52 year old daily-wager working with the Forest Department in Corbett Tiger Reserve in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand. In October last year, he was part of a two-member team on routine patrol duty in the Kalagarh range of the forest. When he did not return home till late night, the range officer sent out a search party to locate the team. After a couple of hours, the search party came across the team. Rakesh and his colleague, Dev, had been attacked by a tiger and Rakesh had been badly mauled. The rescue team quickly took Rakesh to the nearest medical facility which was a small hospital in Kalagarh. After initial treatment, the doctors there recommended that he should be shifted to another hospital in Kashipur (about 2 hours away) for better treatment.

Seeing the extent of Rakesh’s injuries, the doctors at Kashipur suggested moving him to a larger and better equipped facility in Haldwani for treatment after stabilization. This was a 75 kilometer journey by road. At Haldwani, the doctors tried their utmost to save him, but Rakesh’s system was unable to cope and he succumbed to his injuries on the night of 20^th October.

Rakesh is survived by his aged mother, wife and two young children. As is often the case, he had been the sole breadwinner and losing him had torn a gaping hole in the fabric of the family. Under WTI’s initiative to provide support to the frontline forest guards in case of accidents while on duty, Rakesh’s family was assisted with a sum of $2000 to give them some relief in their time of distress. While the loss of a dear one can in no way be compensated, the financial relief did help the family to a great extent and the gesture was much appreciated by the family and the state forest department.