Assam govt burns around 2500 rhino horns, sends strong message to poachers
22 Sep 2021 16:00:17
Golaghat, September 22: To prevent poaching of rhinos, Assam government burned nearly 2,500 confiscated rhino horns, on the occasion of World Rhino Day and busts myths associated with it. With that the government has send a strong message to poachers that the horn is of no medicinal value.
The rhino horns were burned at Bokakhat, Assam's Golaghat district, near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR). Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma with State forest minister Parimal Shulklabaidya and other cabinet ministers were present during the historic event.
Before burning the horns in six big gas chambers, religious rituals were performed as the last rites of the horns and the rhinos that owned them. After the rituals, the gas chambers were torched amid the chants of hymns and sounds of conches.
While speaking at the ceremony, Sarma said, “Through this event, we want to convey to the world that rhino horns are just a mass of compacted hair and there is no medicinal value to them. We want to urge people not to kill these rare animals or buy their horns based on superstitions or myths. We should allow rhinos to live and grow naturally.”
“Some are saying that instead of destroying the horns we should have sold them. But like the way, we can’t sell seized drugs to earn revenue, the same way a government can’t earn money by selling rhino horns. In Africa, they have burned seized rhino horns, but the quantity is not that large. I think today we are setting a world record,” he added.
Of the total 2,623 horns kept in treasuries, 15 were of African rhinos (which have two horns) and 21 were found to be fakes. The longest horn measured 57 cm and the heaviest weighed 3 kilos. The average height and weight of the horns were 13.77 cm and 560 gm respectively. The total weight of the horns destroyed on Wednesday was 1,305 kilos.
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The burnt horns had been seized from poachers and traders of animal parts or recovered from dead rhinos in the state’s national parks and wildlife sanctuaries since 1979 and were stored in 12 district treasuries.
Assam has the largest population of the greater one-horned rhino in the world. Around 2,600 individual rhinos are found in Kaziranga, Manas, and Orang National Parks, besides Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.
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