INDIAN RHINOS DOING WELL IN THE WILD

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Indian rhino - the comeback kid(FEATURE)

 

By Syed Zarir Hussain, Indo-Asian News Service

 

Kaziranga (Assam), April 22 (IANS) India's endangered one-horned rhinos are

now battling for living space after staging a comeback from the brink of

extinction in this wildlife sanctuary in Assam.

 

From just five rhinos a century ago, the 430-sq-km Kaziranga National Park

today boasts of nearly 70 percent of the estimated 2,700 rhinos in the

world.

 

According to an animal census carried out at the park last month, Kaziranga

is home to about 1,855 one-horned rhinos compared to 1,552 in 1999.

 

'The increase is indeed heartening, but the increment is posing a habitat

problem because the animals require a large grazing area for survival,'

warden N.K. Vasu told IANS.

 

The rangers, until recently, were at their wit's end to protect the

5,000-pounders from being wiped out of this riverine game park, with the

huge mammals hunted down by organised poacher gangs for profit.

 

'The threat from poachers still exists although incidents of poaching have

come down drastically,' Vasu said.

 

In the past five years 18 rhinos have been killed, compared to at least 50

slaughtered annually in the early 1990s by poachers.

 

'A highly effective protection mechanism, better intelligence network and a

pro-active role played by villagers residing along the park have helped us

check poaching,' Assam Forest Minister Pradyut Bordoloi said.

 

Organised poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe have

aphrodisiac qualities, besides being used as medicines for curing fever,

stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of South Asia.

 

Rhino horn is also much fancied by buyers from the Middle East who turn them

into handles of ornamental daggers and tourist souvenirs.

 

Profits in the illegal rhino horn trade are staggering. Poachers pay

villagers Rs. 50,000 ($1,100) for each horn and experts say that each piece

sells for up to Rs. 1.5 million per kilogram in the international market.

 

'We maintain constant vigil to keep poachers at bay,' said Dharanidhar Boro,

a park ranger.

 

The slowing of poaching incidents has helped the rhinos to lumber around the

grassy park and breed properly.

 

'Nature would take care of the rhino habitat although we must ensure their

grazing areas are not occupied by human encroachers,' Vasu said. 'Our target

is to have at least 3,000 rhinos by 2020 in Kaziranga.'

 

Wildlife authorities have prepared plans to move rhinos to new surroundings

within Assam to help the animals multiply in similar locations other than

Kaziranga.

 

'Very soon the process of translocation of the animals from Kaziranga to

other sanctuaries in Assam would take place to ease the space problem,' said

Anwaruddin Choudhury, a researcher and expert on rhinos.

 

Kaziranga created history last year by celebrating its centenary in style

with experts describing the comeback of the rhinos from the throes of death

as one of the world's biggest conservation success stories.

 

'Nobody imagined five or eight years ago that the rhinos would survive and

that we would be facing a problem of too many,' Vasu said.

 

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service