For the first time since 1977, rare rhinos avoid poachers in the top reserve in the world.

 By Krishna N. Das

Jan 09 2023 8:15 PM GMT

On March 26, 2018, a one-horned rhinoceros was spotted at the Kaziranga National Park in the Golaghat District of the northeastern Indian state of Assam.

Reuters, NEW DELHI, January 9 - For the first time since 1977, no rhinos were poached in India's Assam state, the largest sanctuary in the world for the threatened great one-horned rhinoceros.

On July 16, 2020, one-horned rhinos in the flood-affected section of Kaziranga National Park in Nagaon district, Assam, India, moved to higher ground.

The Kaziranga National Park in northeastern India's Assam is home to 2,200 rhinos, or two-thirds of their global population. It is surrounded by elephant-grass meadows, swampy lagoons, and dense forests. Both cricket stars and members of British monarchy have been drawn there, but poaching has become a major issue.

One-horned rhinos seek refuge on a highland in the Kaziranga National Park's flood-affected region in Nagaon district, India's northeastern state of Assam, on July 18, 2019.

According to statistics that the Assam Police provided with Reuters, more than 190 rhinos were killed in Assam by poachers between 2000 and 2021, however none were slain in 2018. Since 1977, there hasn't been any poaching.

According to the statistics, a record 27 rhinos per year were killed in Assam in 2013 and 2014 as poachers tried to resell their horns, which are valued as jewellery and medicine in East Asia, for thousands of dollars.

According to Assam Police, 58 poachers were apprehended last year; five were hurt and four were murdered.

On September 22, 2021, seized rhino horns are seen burning during a celebration of World Rhino Day in Bokakhat, a town close to Kaziranga National Park in India's northeastern state of Assam.

Gyanendra Pratap Singh, the special director general of police in Assam and the leader of a task group to combat poaching, stated, "We need to sustain the pressure on the poaching gangs.

Until that becomes the norm, he added, "we have to make sure that the graph of poaching stays flat at nil for a few years."

Forest officials arrange seized rhino horns before burning them during an event to mark World Rhino Day in Bokakhat near Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam, India, September 22, 2021. 

According to him, authorities also want to step up their investigations into those who get rhino horns from poachers in other states and nations.

According to the international conservation organisation WWF, the one-horned rhino population has increased dramatically from about 200 at the start of the 20th century to over 3,700 now, despite the poaching in Assam.

They are present in Nepal in addition to India.