Rhino poaching suspect’s body found in river; police say he jumped in to escape

Rhino poaching suspect’s body found in river; police say he jumped in to escape

Subject :Environment

Section: Places in news

Context: Three weeks  after Assam’s first rhino poaching case in more than a year was discovered in Kaziranga, the body of the suspected poacher was found floating in the Brahmaputra on Sunday

• It is located in the State of Assam and covers 42,996 Hectare (ha). It is the single largest undisturbed and representative area in the Brahmaputra Valley floodplain.

Status of the National park:

• It was declared as a National Park in 1974.
• It has been declared a tiger reserve since 2007. It has a total tiger reserve area of 1,030 sq km with a core area of 430 sq. km.
• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
• It is recognized as an Important Bird Area by Bird Life International.

Important Species Found:

• It is the home of the world’s most one-horned rhinos. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world and second highest number of Rhinos in Assam after Kaziranga National Park.
• Much of the focus of conservation efforts in Kaziranga are focused on the ‘big four’ species— Rhino, Elephant, Royal Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo.
• Kaziranga is also home to 9 of the 14 species of primates found in the Indian subcontinent.

Rivers and Highways:

• The National Highway 37 passes through the park area.
• The park also has more than 250 seasonal water bodies, besides the Diphlu River running through it.

Other national parks in Assam are:

• Dibru-Saikhowa National Park,
• Manas National Park,
• Nameri National Park,
• Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park.
• Rhinos are listed in Schedule 1 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as an endangered animal and there is an international ban on trade of rhino horns under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna).
• Three species of rhino—black, Javan, and Sumatran—are critically endangered.
• Today, a small population of Javan rhinos is found in only one national park on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Java.
• A mainland subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011.
• Successful conservation efforts have led to an increase in the number of greater one-horned (or Indian) rhinos, from around 200 at the turn of the 20th century to around 3,700 today.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020

• Launched in 2005, Indian Rhino Vision 2020 is an ambitious effort to attain a wild population of at least 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos spread over seven protected areas in the Indian state of Assam by the year 2020.
• Seven protected areas are Kaziranga, Pobitora, Orang National Park, Manas National Park, Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary, Burachapori wildlife sanctuary and DibruSaikhowa wildlife sanctuary.
• It is a collaborative effort between various organisations, including the International Rhino Foundation, Assam’s Forest Department, Bodoland Territorial Council, World Wide Fund – India, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.