Kaziranga springs back to life as rhino population spikes by 200

One-horned rhinos have been much more fearless in India’s Kaziranga National Park as poaching has taken a significant dip. The park’s rhino population has increased by 200 in four years, thanks to efforts made by law enforcement officials.

Artificial mud platforms created by officials managing the national park have been one of the newest approaches taken to support the rhino population. The rhinos take refuge with guards providing them fodder to survive during the monsoon season, according to reports from Associated Press.

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The one-horned rhino population had been declining over the years, however, a recent scan of the Kaziranga National Park revealed that the numbers have increased by 12%. Nearly 400 men using 50 domesticated elephants and drones scanned the park’s 500 square kilometers.

Jatindra Sarma, the director of the Kaziranga National Park, said in a statement, “From the last count in 2018, the number of the rare one-horned rhinoceros at our park has risen by 200. The number of this species at the Kaziranga now stands at 2,613.”

S. Gogoi, another wildlife official added, “Poaching has declined in recent years with only one rhino being killed so far this year”, according to reports from Associated Press.

Poachers kill rhinoceroses to take their horns — which are believed to have aphrodisiac properties and are in great demand in the clandestine markets in Southeast Asia.

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Monsoon flooding has also killed animals of several species in Kaziranga, which is spread across the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River in Assam state. Authorities have built high mud platforms where rhinos take refuge with guards providing them fodder to survive during the monsoon season.

Poaching in Kaziranga peaked in 2013 and 2014 with 27 rhinos killed each year. It came down to six in 2017, seven in 2018, three in 2019, two in 2020 and one in 2021.