Saving Assam’s rhinos
A proposal by the Assam forest department for de-horning rhinos to save them
from poachers has wildlife groups up in arms.
In the first three months of this year alone, Assam has lost as many as 10
one-horned rhinoceros to poachers. Last year 41 were killed. Assam has 2,552
rhinos spread over Kaziranga National Park (2,329), Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary
(100), Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park (100) and Manas National Park (23).
The total population of the greater Indian one-horned rhinos in the world is
around 3,300.
As the state forest department has failed to check the poaching of rhinos, it
has come out with a proposal to de-horn (or trimming the horns of) the animals
to save them from poachers. Some time ago, Assam’s chief wildlife warden sought
public opinion on this initiative of trimming the horns of translocated and
stray rhinos.
Nature’s Beckon, an active wildlife group, and Journalists’ Forum, Assam, are
strongly against the initiative of the Assam forest department. Both the
organisations have denounced the “conservation tactic (mooted) without proper
research” and warned that the practice of dehorning of rhinos may have
“negative implication in the breeding of the animals in the days to come”. “As
per the available research work, we can argue that the rhino horn has its
specific role in the ecology and behaviour of the species. It cannot be
distinguished as a vestigial part of the body,” the bodies have said in a
statement.
Soumyadeep Dutta, director of Nature’s Beckon, said, “Though the evolutionary
significance of horns in rhinos is not entirely clear, it may include mate
choice or anti-predator defence. It is known that rhinos use their horns for
several behavioural functions, including defending territories and their calves
from predators, maternal care and foraging behaviour, such as digging for
water and breaking branches.”
The issue of dehorning of rhinos has been debated for more than a decade, but
the efficacy of the process remains unknown.
Rather, the dehorning of rhinos in Africa has shown negative implications on
the biological growth of the animal.
Aaranyak, an environmental organisation, feels that instead of dehorning
rhinos, the state government should provide combat training to forest guards
and range officers in the use of arms. Baibhav Talukdar, secretary general of
Aaranyak, said, “the trend in rhino poaching since the past two years has been
most disturbing, and it exposes lacunae in the existing protection mechanism…
de-horning is unlikely to yield any encouraging results and it was at the most
a time-buying strategy adopted by a few African countries having little
long-term practical conservational utility. According to him “dehorning will
only shift the problem from a few dehorned individuals to the others.
Considering the current socio-political scenario in Assam, we urge the
government not to take up dehorning as a measure for rhino protection,” He also
said that the authority should bring all rhino poaching cases in Assam under
fast track courts and settle these within
a year.
http://thestatesman.net/news/50442-saving-assam-s-rhinos.html
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