Indian rhinoceros

Description

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Context: The Assam government has announced a reward of ₹5 lakh for information leading to the recovery of the horn of a rhino that was killed by poachers in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve about a month ago.

Assam government declared 2021 as the year with the least cases of rhino poaching in 21 years.

Great Indian rhinoceros

The Indian rhinoceros also called greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent.
It is the only large mammal species in Asia to be down-listed from endangered to vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN Red list in 2008.
The extent and quality of the rhino's most important habitat are considered to be in decline due to hunting, agricultural development in tarai region and livestock encroachment.
Indian rhinos once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain has reduced drastically to 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV2020)

Designed in 2005, the IRV2020 is believed to have achieved its target of attaining a population of 3,000 rhinos in Assam.
But the plan to spread the Rhinoceros unicornis across four protected areas beyond Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park and Pobitora could not materialise.
Wild-to-wild translocations were an essential part of IRV2020 – moving rhinos from densely populated parks like Kaziranga NP, to ones in need of more rhinos, like Manas NP.
Rhinos are now found in four Protected Areas in Assam: Pabitora Wildlife Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park, and Manas National Park.

About KNP:

Kaziranga National park’s is home to more than 2200 Indian one-horned rhinoceros, approximately 2/3rd of their total world population.
It is located in the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots – Golaghat and Nagaon district.
In 1985, it was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
It was declared as Tiger Reserve in 2006.
It is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.