India’s rhino population on the rise: Report

In what could be considered a bright spot in the conservation efforts of the vulnerable species, the Greater One-Horned Rhino population in India and Nepal, which once numbered as few as 100 in the early 1900s, is reportedly on the rise.

The International Rhino Foundation (IRF), in its annual State of the Rhino Report for 2023, released two days ahead of World Rhino Day, attributed the rise in the one-horned rhino population to strong protection, wildlife crime law enforcement and habitat expansion.

World Rhino Day is celebrated internationally on September 22.

Poaching of rhinos in Assam, which is home to the majority of the one-horned rhino population in India, was rampant in the past, but stringent surveillance and other elevated security arrangements being put in place by the authorities seem to have addressed the issue, according to the report.

One-horned rhino

The Greater One-Horned Rhino (or "Indian rhino") is the largest of the rhino species. Once widespread across the entire northern part of the Indian subcontinent, rhino populations plummeted as they were hunted for sport or killed as agricultural pests. This pushed the species very close to extinction, and by the start of the 20th century, around 200 wild greater one-horned rhinos remained.

The one-horned rhino falls under the "vulnerable" category in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list. In India, rhinos are found in Assam, parts of West Bengal and Bihar.

"The recovery of the Greater One-Horned Rhino is among the greatest conservation success stories in Asia. Thanks to strict protection and management from Indian and Nepalese wildlife authorities, the greater one-horned rhino was brought back from the brink. Today, populations have increased to around 4,000 rhinos in northeastern India and the Terai grasslands of Nepal," said the World Wildlife Fund.

(With ANI inputs)