New threat to the Indian rhino

Forest and Bird, Volume 23, Issue 1, 1 February 1992, Page 6

New threat to the Indian rhino

Source:

Oryx

ASSAM IN NORTH-EAST India is the main stronghold of the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros. India designated the rhino a protected species in the 1970s when its numbers had fallen below a thousand, and since then the population has slowly increased. However, with rhino horn considered an aphrodisiac in parts of Asia and each horn fetching over $30,000 on the wholesale market, poaching has always been a problem. But now a new threat is causing great

concern to wildlife officials. A separatist tribal group, the Bodos, who live adjacent to one of the main reserves occupied by the rhino have increased their agitation against the central government. They have also taken to poaching to fund their independence movement. Many of the reserve guards have been frightened away or have been recalled for their own safety. Others were too scared to report poaching by the armed rebels. The result is that the killing of rhinos by the Bodos and professional poachers has substantially increased.