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The coordinated efforts of Assam's forest, police and civil department has helped increase the population of one horned rhino in Kaziranga National Park to more than 200 in four years.
As per the census, as many as 2,613 rhinos are estimated to be living in the UNESCO world heritage site against 2,413 rhinos enumerated in the previous census in 2018, said Kaziranga Director, Jatindra Sarma, reported IANS.
Strong anti-poaching activities have led to the rise in the animal population, Sarma told The New Indian Express. Stating that the government has a zero tolerance policy against poaching, he said, the state's forest, civil administration and police department are working in tandem to end poaching.
He further said that 400 rhinos had died during this period due to poaching and natural causes. But despite that their population increased to 200 as we managed to significantly reduce poaching here, he said.
Last year, the Assam government had formed the Anti-Poaching Task Force (APTF) to curb rhino poaching in Kaziranga.
Speaking about the census, Sarma said that before the actual rhino census, enumerators were trained and briefed by experts on 25 March and a sample survey was conducted on 28 March.
Sarma said that the Global Positioning System devices and binoculars were provided to the enumerators for better observation, while, for the first time, drone technology was also used for sample recheck, he said.
Of the total 2,613 rhinos, 1,823 are adults (above six years), 365 are sub-adults (3 to 6 years), 279 are juveniles (one to three years) and 146 rhino calves (up to one year old). Among them 903 are females, 750 are males. The team was not able to ascertain the gender of 273 rhinos during the census.
Two other rhino habitats in Assam have also reportedly witnessed a increase in the animal's population.
(With inputs from IANS, The New Indian Express)
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