Urgent plan needed to save one-horned rhinos, says WWF

There is an urgent need for the government to adopt a National Rhino Conservation Plan for India to save the one-horned rhino, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Sunday stressed on the occasion of World Rhino Day.

The World Rhino Day is celebrated every year on Sep 22. The adoption of such a plan would increase coordination between the rhino bearing Indian states and help in sharing the best practices in curbing the poaching syndicates for better protection of rhinos, said Dipankar Ghose, director for species and landscapes at WWF-India.

There are four rhino bearing bearing states in India - Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

At an event organised in the national capital Saturday, Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat said, "Government has been doing all that it can to save the one-horned rhino, but there is a need for large scale public movement and awareness."

Actor Nafisa Ali, associated with the cause, said, "The rhinos in our country are mostly located in Assam, but there is a need to relocate them evenly, as during floods in the state there are very high chances of them getting displaced."

According to WWF, only after decades of conservation the number of rhinos in Assam has increased to around 2,500 currently.