The Orang National Park on Sunday got a Belgian Malinois to track down poachers.

Sniffer dog Babli was received by divisional forest officer (wildlife), Ramesh Gogoi, at the park. It is sponsored by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation which has maintained a long-term association with Aaranyak, an NGO.

The organisation also gifted two motorcycles to Darrang police.

Gogoi said: “This is the first time Orang has got a sniffer dog. Aaranyak has fulfilled a long-felt need of Orang National Park by providing the sniffer dog that will be of immense value in checking and investigating wildlife crimes, especially hunting, in the park.”

“Though there have been no poaching since June 2017, the pressure is always there,” Gogoi added.

Last year, five persons were arrested in rhino-related cases and eight till date this year.

The handler is Goura Baidya of Tinsukia. He and the dog had training in Bangalore.

Aaranyak has provided three such sniffer dogs to Kaziranga National Park and one to Pobitora wildlife sanctuary.

Both Kaziranga National Park and Pobitora wildlife sanctuary are habitats of one-horned rhinos.

Orang National Park, with a core area of over 79 square km, is home to 101 one-horned rhinos (2018 figures) and 24 royal Bengal tigers besides a treasure trove of avian species.

The chief executive officer of Aaranyak, Bibhab Talukdar, said: “The reason why we used this particular breed is because of their extreme prey-drive capability. Once they pick up a scent and get a lead, they are capable of outrunning and bringing the suspect down if he tries to escape. This breed has been successfully used as ‘military working dog’ by the US and European forces.”

Talukdar, who handed over the items to the respective police and forest authorities, said it was part of Aaranyak’s sustained efforts to boost continuous endeavours of Assam police and the Assam forest department to prevent/check wildlife crimes in the area to protect the wildlife species, including the one-horned rhino and the endangered Royal Bengal tiger in Orang National Park.

“The two-wheelers would be handy for strengthening the networking with the village defence parties which have been instrumental in checking wildlife crimes,” superintendent of police, Darrang, Amrit Bhuyan, said.

Aaranyak last month provided raincoats, working boots and torches to 101 members of various village defence parties active in the fringe areas of the Orang National Park.