Leonardo DiCaprio applauds Assam government’s efforts to end rhino poaching

Leonardo DiCaprio sits on the board of the World Wildlife Fund

Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has praised Assam government’s successful efforts to end the poaching of the endangered Indian rhinoceros in the state. In an Instagram post, the Titanic star cited a Reuters report which documents how authorities in Assam ensured not a single great one-horned rhinoceros was poached in 2022 for its horn.

The Kaziranga National Park in Assam is the world’s largest reserve for the endangered great one-horned rhinoceros, also known as Indian rhinoceros. It is home to about 2,200 rhinos, or two-thirds of their world population, but poaching had become a big problem in the national park.

Between 2000 and 2021, poachers killed 190 animals for their horns, hunting them almost to extinction. The horn of the Indian rhino is in great demand for its use in traditional Chinese medicine and is sold for thousands of dollars each.

But authorities have recently ramped up efforts to end poaching and, in 2022, not a single rhinoceros was poached in Kaziranga National Park, according to data shared by Assam Police with Reuters. The last time there was no poaching was in 1977.

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According to Kaziranga National Park, Indian and Nepalese governments have taken major steps toward Indian Rhinoceros conservation with the help of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Assam Police said 58 poachers were arrested last year, five injured and four killed.

"We need to keep the pressure on the poaching gangs," said Assam's special director general of police, Gyanendra Pratap Singh, who heads a task force to tackle poaching.

"We have to ensure that the graph of poaching stays flat at nil for a few years" until that becomes the norm, he said.

(With inputs from Reuters)