Assam Government on 20 March 2014 sought an opinion of the people on trimming the horns of rhinos to save them from the poachers. The feedback can be given to the office of principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) till March 31, 2014.
The proposal was floated by the Assam Government in light of 11 killings of Rhinos that have taken place in the State in the year 2014. Two more Rhinos have been killed since 19 March 2014.
As per the proposal, the horns of the Rhinos will be trimmed every 4 to 5 months rather than completely dehorning them. In the process of trimming, care will be taken that internal organs of the rhinos are not affected. Also the trimming will be done in only those areas where the population of rhinos is very low including the translocated areas
Background
The idea of trimming rhino horns came up in January 2014 when it was proposed by the Indian Rhino Vision (IVR) 2020. They proposed the idea before translocating the rhinos to Laokhowa-Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagaon district of Assam.
IRV 2020:
It is a joint programme of WWF-India, Assam’s forest department, International Rhino Foundation and some NGOs. The programme was launched to increase the population of rhinos in Assam to 3000 by 2020. The programme includes wild translocation of rhinos from Kaziranga National Park and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary to Manas and Dibru Saikhowa national park and Laokhowa-Burachopari Wildlife Sanctuary.
About Rhinoceros
Greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is listed as vulnerable animal in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In past few decades the number of rhinos has gone down severely and reached on the brink of extinction.
Of total of the population, about 85 percent of rhinos are in India and Assam is the state where about 75 percent of its total population exists.
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