Leonardo DiCaprio praises Assam govt’s efforts to end poaching of Rhinoceros

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Off the big screen, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is an ardent environmentalist who has dedicated his time and resources to saving the planet. In his latest Instagram post, the actor hailed the Assam government’s efforts in stopping rhinoceros poaching in Kaziranga National Park.

The ‘Titanic’ star quoted a news report which said that no rhinos were poached last year in the world’s largest reserve for the endangered great one-horned rhinoceros for the first time since 1977.

He shared a picture of a rhinoceros and wrote on Instagram, ”In 2021, the government of the Indian state of Assam set out to end the poaching of the Endangered Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park following the killing of around 190 animals for their horns between 2000 and 2021. In 2022, they met their goal and no rhinos were poached in the area for the first time since 1977.”

Notably, Kaziranga National Park is home to 2,200 Greater One-horned Rhinos, which is about two-thirds of the world’s population.

”This triumph in India also comes with more good news, as @wwf also reports that the world population of the rare rhino soared to around 3,700 from about 200 at the turn of the 20th century,” the actor added.

Thousands of people commented on Mr DiCaprio’s post and congratulated India for the achievement. One user wrote, ” Awesome! Love to see these conservation efforts and success flowing from them!” Another commented, ” It is soo good to read that at least some countries are doing something to help out the beautiful planet.”

Assam’s Kaziranga National Park located in the floodplains of the Brahmaputra river is the biggest habitat for one-horned rhinos globally and draws in visitors from across the globe. In 2015 and 2016, the number of rhinos killed by poachers was 17 and 18, respectively, which subsequently declined to two in 2020 and 2021 and zero in 2022, a report by ANI news agency said.

When asked how this was possible, GP Singh, Special Director General of Police (DGP) Law and Order, Assam, credited the efforts of both the state government as well as from the Union Home Ministry, while leveraging the use of technology.

“We focused on mapping the incidents of poaching and collected data and traced the history of poachers who had a track record including following their present activities. We also sensitised the stakeholders especially villagers, forest villagers, and those in buffer zones,” Mr Singh explained. (NDTV)