<p>Two rhinos were killed at the Kaziranga National Park last week taking to 7 the tally of rhinos that fell to poachers’ bullets this year. What made these killings all the more shocking was that the second rhino was killed during the tour of British royals, William and Kate, to the park. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on a safari in the area just hours before the rhino was killed. They were just 20 km away from the site of the killing. Security at Kaziranga would have been tight on account of the royals’ visit. That the poachers were able to kill the rhino at a time and in an area of supposedly tight security shows the ease and brazenness with which they are able to operate in the park. It is well known that poachers often operate with the help of forest officials, police and politicians. The killing of the rhino underscores this nexus as it would have been difficult for anyone to enter the park with sophisticated weapons, kill a rhino and escape without some amount of help from authorities. Such slack security during a VIP visit has been widely reported in the international media. With the incident capturing attention worldwide, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has scurried to order a probe. Poachers have killed 7 rhinos over the last three-and-a-half months this year compared to 15 all of last year.<br />Formerly distributed across the Gangetic plains, one-horned rhinos, which are native to South Asia are restricted today to tracts in the Indo-Nepal terai, north Bengal and Assam. Their numbers dwindled dangerously over the past few centuries, reportedly falling to a dozen a century ago. Conservation efforts have raised the numbers of the one-horned rhino to 3,500 today, with Kaziranga playing home to two-thirds of these. Still, they remain an endangered species. Poaching and loss of habitat are the main threats to the rhino’s survival.<br />A rhino’s horn is meant to help the animal defend itself. Unfortunately, the horn has made this mighty beast vulnerable. Rhino horn is valued in East and Southeast Asia as an ingredient in Chinese medicine. This has resulted in poaching and an illegal international trade in rhino horns. Some, including the Assam government, are of the view that dehorning the rhino will save the animal from poachers. But this is not the solution. Dehorning amounts to accepting defeat, even surrendering to poachers. It is this single horn that sets apart the Indian rhino from other rhino species. How can we deny it this defining feature?</p>
<p>Two rhinos were killed at the Kaziranga National Park last week taking to 7 the tally of rhinos that fell to poachers’ bullets this year. What made these killings all the more shocking was that the second rhino was killed during the tour of British royals, William and Kate, to the park. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on a safari in the area just hours before the rhino was killed. They were just 20 km away from the site of the killing. Security at Kaziranga would have been tight on account of the royals’ visit. That the poachers were able to kill the rhino at a time and in an area of supposedly tight security shows the ease and brazenness with which they are able to operate in the park. It is well known that poachers often operate with the help of forest officials, police and politicians. The killing of the rhino underscores this nexus as it would have been difficult for anyone to enter the park with sophisticated weapons, kill a rhino and escape without some amount of help from authorities. Such slack security during a VIP visit has been widely reported in the international media. With the incident capturing attention worldwide, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has scurried to order a probe. Poachers have killed 7 rhinos over the last three-and-a-half months this year compared to 15 all of last year.<br />Formerly distributed across the Gangetic plains, one-horned rhinos, which are native to South Asia are restricted today to tracts in the Indo-Nepal terai, north Bengal and Assam. Their numbers dwindled dangerously over the past few centuries, reportedly falling to a dozen a century ago. Conservation efforts have raised the numbers of the one-horned rhino to 3,500 today, with Kaziranga playing home to two-thirds of these. Still, they remain an endangered species. Poaching and loss of habitat are the main threats to the rhino’s survival.<br />A rhino’s horn is meant to help the animal defend itself. Unfortunately, the horn has made this mighty beast vulnerable. Rhino horn is valued in East and Southeast Asia as an ingredient in Chinese medicine. This has resulted in poaching and an illegal international trade in rhino horns. Some, including the Assam government, are of the view that dehorning the rhino will save the animal from poachers. But this is not the solution. Dehorning amounts to accepting defeat, even surrendering to poachers. It is this single horn that sets apart the Indian rhino from other rhino species. How can we deny it this defining feature?</p>
