Program to dispel the myths that drive animal trafficking and poaching
Bokakhat, the headquarters of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in eastern Assam, on Wednesday set the “world’s largest reservoir” of rhino horn in flames amid Vedic rituals.
Organized during World Rhino Day, the event aimed to dispel the myths that have inspired the illegal horn trade and poaching of the animal.
lit remotely via drone
Wildlife officials said that of the 2,623 horns kept in 12 district treasuries since 1979, 2,479 were burnt in six large iron pyres kept in a stadium in Bokakhat, some 240 km east of Guwahati. These were lit from afar through drones.
Among those destroyed were 21 fake horns seized from smugglers and traders and 15 African rhinos brought from the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati.
“We organized this event to tell the world that rhino horns are just a bunch of hairs and have no medicinal value. We urge people not to kill these rare animals or buy their horns on the basis of superstition or myths,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after launching the horn-burning programme.
Ten of his cabinet colleagues, heads of two tribal councils and senior officials participated in the programme.
“Rhino horns are burnt in Africa but not so much at once. I think we have set a world record,” Dr Sarma said, adding that all horns recovered from rhinos that die naturally or during disasters and accidents will be burnt annually from now on.
Kaziranga director P. Shivakumar said 29 horns stuck in court cases would be kept in the treasury, while 94 other horns would be preserved for exhibition or educational purposes, including the heaviest horn weighing 3.05 kg. The state government will set up a natural history museum near the national park to display the preserved hornets.
Officials said the weight of the destroyed horns was 1,305.25 kg, while the weight of the horns to be preserved was 131.05 kg.
Before the destruction, experts had verified the horns in those treasuries using scientific methods. Each horn was cleaned, weighed, photographed, labeled with a unique barcode, packaged and re-sealed after DNA samples were extracted.
life size rhinoceros
“The ashes will be collected and kept in a life-sized rhinoceros at Mihimukh, the main entrance to Kaziranga National Park,” said Mr. Shivakumar. Hindu.
An elaborate Vedic ritual was performed before the event which included performing the last rites.
Wednesday was the second such mass burning of animal body parts in eastern India. A stock of rhinoceros horns and ivory tusks was burnt in 2005-06 in the Chilpath forest (Alipurduar district) of West Bengal.
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