No rhino poaching incident was reported in Assam in 2022.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while interacting with reporters on the first day of 2023 on Sunday, apprised the people of this positive news.
Sharing the data of year-wise rhino poaching incidents in the state, GP Singh, Special DGP of Assam, taking to Twitter, said: "Our efforts against Rhino poaching have yielded good results. In 2022, not a single Rhino was killed by poachers in Assam. The last such incident happened on December 28, 2021, in Hilkund, Kohora, Golaghat district. Our efforts against poaching will continue."
The special DGP shared figures for rhino poaching in the state since the year 2000. The highest number of poaching, as per his shared data, was in 2013 and 2014 at 27 each.
In 2015 and 2016, the number of rhinos killed by poachers was 17 and 18, respectively, which subsequently declined to two in 2020 and 2021 and zero in 2022.
Poaching of Rhinos was rampant in the past, which has now come down due to stringent surveillance and other elevated security arrangements being put in by the authorities.
Assam is known for its one-horned Rhino and the state attracts a large number of tourists who come to visit such sites.
Kaziranga National Park is now home to 2,613 Rhinos and the numbers are increasing, as per the latest census data put out by the national park authority.
To give a clear message to poachers that Rhino horns don't attach any medicinal or monetary value, the Assam government publicly burnt a stockpile of 2,479 horns in September 2022.
"The use of rhinos' horns for medicinal purposes is a myth," Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had then said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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