Rhino Population in Kaziranga National Park

What is the issue?

The latest rhinoceros census in Kaziranga reported a gain of just 12 rhinos since 2015, a jump by barely half a percent.
Though marginal, this increase is seen as a healthy trend.

What was the concern?

Kaziranga lost over 500 rhinos in the last 2 decades of the twentieth century.
The situation improved from the 2000s when an average annual loss to poaching came down to single digit.
Kaziranga reported a population of 1,855 rhinos in 2006.
But after 2006 it suffered a setback with poaching taking huge tolls.

What is the recent healthy trend?

Even as poaching made a comeback after 2006, Kaziranga reported the biggest jump in rhino numbers.
Rhino population had a gain of 193 rhinos in just 3 years from 2006 to 2009.
It increased by 353 between 2009 and 2015 period, despite worrying numbers on poaching.
But since 2017, Kaziranga brought down the numbers on poaching and thus claims a healthy population gain.
Kaziranga National Park (KNP) has counted 2,413 one-horned rhinos in the latest triennial population estimation.
It comes closer to the goal of hitting the 3,000-mark in the Asian one-horned rhino population in Assam by 2020.
Moreover among the female population now counted, a majority are breeding.

What are the reasons for improvement?

Poaching has been brought down considerably by concerted efforts.
A group of informers earlier used by the civil administration, to get updates on poaching operations, started turning hostile.
In tie up with their controllers, they were apparently protecting the poachers in return for big protection money.
This group of hostile informers have now been identified and controlled.
It has been a practice to offer political patronage to monetise Kaziranga’s rhinos in exchange for varied electoral services.
The ups and downs in poaching numbers, with peaks during the election times, clearly reflect this practice.
This decade-long tradition which affected rhino population has now been done away with by the government.

What drives poaching?

Kaziranga and its rhinos still remain very much in the grip of both commercial and political interests.
Rhino is far easier to poach than, say, a tiger or an elephant, and far more valuable in that sense.
A carton of horns fetches as much as a carload of tiger derivatives or tusks would.
These factors perpetuate the interest in rhino poaching, posing a challenge for controlling them.
This interest had in the past made it easy for local insurgent groups to strike cashless arms deals with operators in Myanmar.

What are the administrative and legal shortfalls?

Local Population - The forest administration least consider as allies the local population, mostly tribals and Muslims.
Violent eviction drives against encroachers are common and, at least once, led to deaths caused by police firing.
Killing Poachers - Hundreds of alleged poachers have been gunned down and the number of poachers killed is on the rise.
On the other hand, expressively, only two forest staffs have ever been killed by poachers since the late 1960s.
In 2010, Assam extended legal protection against prosecution to staff who kill poachers.
Resultantly, from a decadal count of just 17 between 2001 and 2010, the number of poachers killed raised to over 50 in the next 5 years.
These figures clearly seem to give credibility to recurrent allegations of staged murders.
Neighbourhood - The anti-migrant rhetoric against alleged Bangladeshis have alienated the minority population in villages around the park.
Resultantly, rhino protection does not enjoy much goodwill in its neighbourhood.
Winning their support over time can be the best insurance against poaching.

Source: Indian Express