Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
UNESCO
Science 230 Introduction to Life Science
December 9, 2007
Manas Wildlife sanctuary 1
Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
Abstract
On a gentle slope in the foothills of the Himalayas, where wooded hills give way to alluvial grasslands and tropical forests, the Manas sanctuary is home to a great variety of wildlife, including many endangered species, such as the tiger, pygmy hog, Indian rhinoceros and Indian elephant (UNESCO.ORG). UNESCO.org
The Manas National Park was declared a sanctuary on October 01, 1928 with an area of 360 sq. km. Manas Tiger reserve was created in 1973(Wikipedia). Prior to the declaration of the sanctuary it was a Reserved Forest called Manas R.F. and North Kamrup R.F. (Wikipedia). It was used by the Cooch Behar royal family and Raja of Gauripur as a hunting reserve. Between 1951 and 1955 the area was increased to 391 sq. km. It was declared a World Heritage site in December 1985 by UNESCO. Kahitama R.F., the Kokilabari R.F. and the Panbari R.F. were added in the year 1990 to form the Manas National Park. In 1992, UNESCO declared it as a world heritage site in danger due to heavy poaching and terrorist activities (Wikipedia). I just don’t understand how anyone would want to poach animal that are in a wildlife sanctuary. To them they must think that this was a game to them, however I think that they are sick individuals.
What human intrusions threaten the area?
The Committee decided to include this site on the World Heritage in Danger List in 1992, when it was invaded by militants of the Bodo tribe in Assam (UNESCO). Damage to the sanctuary was estimated at more than two million US dollars. This was from the one attack that the Sanctuary had. The site's infrastructure suffered considerable damage during 1992-93. Political instability seems to have led to poaching during this period of