India, Feb. 10 -- Less than two years after the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) approved electrification of a railway line in Assam passing through India's lone ape habitat, Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary (HGWS) in Jorhat, a male gibbon was found electrocuted to death on February 8 morning by local forest staff. Primatologists, local residents and wildlife biologists had warned that the mitigation measures to prevent electrocution of arboreal animals were not enough. According to the experts, the February 8 morning incident which killed the critically endangered Western Hoolock Gibbon poses a threat to the entire 20-odd square kilometre protected area where six primate species have thrived since 1997, when it was notified.

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