"Zero Poaching! 2022 was really special for our rhino conservation efforts. Not a single rhino being poached in 2022 & just 2 in 2021, the gentle giant is now much safer in Assam," he tweeted.
Sarma also thanked the Assam Forest Department and Assam Police for "their sincere efforts to protect the iconic animal."
Additionally, Special Director General of Police (DGP) GP Singh tweeted data that depicted 2022 as the first year since 2000 in which there was not a single case of Rhino poaching.
Speaking to The Quint, Singh said that the following efforts and tactics made such an achievement possible:
Mapping the incidents of poaching in time and space
Collection of data about all past poachers and their present activities
Sensitising the stakeholders, especially villagers, forest villagers, and those in buffer zones
Mapping of all boatmen potentially involved in poaching
Coordination with the police of other states, especially Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Kerala
Constant support and guidance of the chief minister and Union home minister
Leveraging technology like using CCTV on entry/exit routes including night vision
Using motion sensors and analysis of cyber and mobile data
A coordinated approach between the police and forest department
He also provided The Quint with data about how many poachers were arrested (58), injured (5), or had died (4) in the year 2022.
GP Singh also provided the list of people involved in the anti-rhino poaching task force constituted by the Assam government in June 2021. "The success is largely an outcome of joint efforts of the police, forest dwellers, and villagers in and around Rhino-bearing national parks," he proudly asserted.
'Among the Greatest Conservation Success Stories in Asia: WWF
As shown in the screenshot below, the Indian Rhino, which has a black horn whose size can go up to 60 cm, has been categorised as vulnerable (it was previously endangered) in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List.
According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), hunting and sport "pushed the species very close to extinction and by the start of the 20th century, around 200 wild greater one-horned rhinos remained."
The website adds that "the recovery of the greater one-horned rhino is among the greatest conservation success stories in Asia. Thanks to strict protection and management from Indian and Nepalese wildlife authorities, the greater one-horned rhino was brought back from the brink. Today populations have increased to around 3,700 rhinos in northeastern India and the Terai grasslands of Nepal."
'Great News', Tweets PM Modi
The news was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted: "This is great news! Compliments to the people of Assam, who have shown the way and been proactive in their efforts to protect the rhinos." He ended the tweet with an emoji of a rhino.
It is worth noting that in 2019, the Assam government constituted a Special Rhino Protection Force to curtail rhino poaching at Kaziranga National Park (KNP). And on World Rhino Day – 22 September 2021 – about 2,500 rhino horns were publicly set aflame at the park to "bust myths about rhino horns," and to send "a loud and clear message to the poachers and smugglers that such items have no value."
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)