GUWAHATI: The Assam government has achieved a significant success in protecting the one-horned rhinos – the pride of the state – from poachers since it launched ‘Operation Falcon.
’Operation Falcon is a collaborative effort of the Assam Police and the Assam Forest Department launched last year.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted a video of Operation Falcon through X on Monday, stating, it was breaking the back of poaching and illegal animal trade.
According to the video, the killings of two rhinos prompted a rethink in anti-poaching strategy vis-à-vis the launch of Operation Falcon against poachers.
Stating that poachers were chased ruthlessly using all available resources, the video said coordination and spirit of the personnel helped arrest 42 poachers – 18 in Biswanath, eight in Darrang, six in Nagaon, five in Karbi Anglong, two in Sonitpur and one each in Udalguri, Dibrugarh and Cachar districts.
“Poachers were tracked through extensive use of on-ground and digital intelligence,” according to the video.
“Under this operation, international and interstate nexus were identified. Six major rhino-poaching gangs, linked to illegal trade through Myanmar, were identified, while nine rhino poaching attempts were foiled,” the video further stated.
On the World Rhino Day last year, Sarma had stated that the poaching of the animal dropped by 86% since the BJP rose to power in Assam in 2016. Ahead of that year’s Assembly elections, the party had promised that it would protect the rhinos if voted to power.
So far this year, no rhinos has been killed
According to the rhino census of 2022, Assam has 2,895 rhinos – 2,613 of them in the 1,300 sq km Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve. Orang National Park and Tiger Reserve, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, and Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve have 125, 107 and 50 rhinos respectively.
Poaching dropped drastically especially after Sarma had donned the chief minister’s mantle in May 2021. That year, only one rhino was killed while 2022 was incident-free.
One rhino was killed in 2023 and two last year. This year has been incident-free so far. Between 2001 and 2016, when the Congress was in power in the state, several rhinos were killed by the poachers every year, particularly in Kaziranga.