"Nature's Beckon" Protests Gibbon Killing

Article and photos Soumyadeep Datta
April 2001

In October 2000, a policeman was arrested for shooting a Hoolock gibbon in the Joypur Nature Reserve, Assam, India. The killer was Hwangho Mamai.

According to the Zoological Survey of India, there are only about 5,000 Hoolock gibbons left in India. They are fully protected by Indian law.

The killing of the gibbon infuriated Nature's Beckon, a wildlife activist group which IPPL has helped for several years. The group is led by Soumyadeep Datta. Nature's Beckon has demanded that the Union Home Minister, the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, and the district authorities of Changlang and Tirap prosecute the policeman.

Nature's Beckon also held a demonstration to support protection of Assam's forests and wildlife, and to protest the killing of the gibbon.

According to the 10 November 2000 issue of The Assam Tribune:
The protests by Nature's Beckon have now resulted in the harassment of volunteers of the organization by policemen of Arunachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the erring cop, Hwangho Mamai, is being prosecuted in the civil courts here.

HOW YOU CAN HELP Please send courteous letters: 1) expressing your concern over the killing of a hoolock gibbon by a policeman in the rainforest of Joypur, 2) urging strong action against the gibbon-killer and all wildlife poachers, and 3) requesting that the contiguous rainforest of Joypur, Upper Dihing and Dirak be declared a wildlife sanctuary, to: Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India Secretariat, South Block New Delhi 110001, India Mr. Prafulla Kr. Mahanta Chief Minister of Assam Secretariat, Dispur 781006 Assam, India Attention: overseas postage from the United States to India was recently increased to 80 cents for letters weighing up to one ounce.