Not a single rhino will be poached in Assam in 2022, for the first time in 20 years. This is why

Kaziranga National Park is currently home to 2,613 rhinos. (Represent)

Assam:

Not a single one-horned rhinoceros in Assam will be poached by 2022, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday. The strict vigilance of armed commandos and rangers as well as the use of “sophisticated technology” helped Assam achieve this goal.

Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state has achieved this feat after at least 20 years. “It’s probably been 20-25 years since Assam reported no poaching of even a single rhino in a year.” The last poaching took place on December 28, 2021 at Hilakunda, Kohora in Golaghat district.

In June 2021, the Assam government set up a 22-member task force led by the Special Superintendent of Police (law and order) GP Singh and deployed armed commandos to police sense and act sternly against poachers.

The government has also set up a 22-member task force to check poaching that includes senior forest and SP officials from at least 11 districts, and forestry officials from six wildlife sub-departments. wild. The districts include Golaghat, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Morigaon, Baksa, Chirang, Barpeta and Majuli.

Rhino poaching has become a serious concern in the state, with 2013 and 2014 seeing at least 27 deaths. At least 18 rhinos were killed in 2016, then the number dropped steadily with just one rhino poached in 2021.

Kaziranga National Park is currently home to 2,613 rhinos and the number is growing, according to the latest census data released by the national park agency.

To send a clear message to poachers that rhino horn does not have any medicinal or monetary value, the Assamese government publicly burned a stockpile of 2,479 horns in September. using rhino horn for medicinal purposes is a myth,” Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma later said.