NAGAON, July 31: "Although 35 Rhino have been killed by the poachers since March 31, 2006 to 2008 yet Rhino population in Asom have increased to 1,855 as per the census done in the year 2006, ' Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain said.
The Minister also said that in the meantime all possible stern and affective measures have been taken from the Government against the poachers for protecting the rhinos and all other forest wealth and inmate animals.

DERGAON

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In their continued intensified operation against the alarmingly increasing incidents of poaching of one-horned rhinos in Orang National Park (ONP), the joint effort of the police and the ONP authority have resulted the arrest of two hardcore rhino poachers and recovery of a 303 rifle from their possession.

In yet another incident of suspected poaching at Kaziranga National Park, the carcass of a full-grown rhinoceros was recovered near a water body at Agaratoli range this morning. The horn of the rhino, which is suspected to have died three to four days back, was missing.

Seven one-horned rhinos of the ten that died inside Bardiya National Park (BNP) in the past 10 months were killed by poachers, raising serious concern over the very survival of these endangered species, reports Kantipur Daily. The remaining three rhinos had died due to natural causes, according to Fadindra Kharel, chief conservation officer of the BNP. Rampant poaching of rhinos inside the park is said to be the main cause behind the number of the endangered species going down so drastically.

Poaching in the Himalayas is taking a heavy toll on the population of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal, a wildlife official said on Sunday. There were 31 rhinoceros in the jungles of Bardiya National Park located in Nepal's southwestern plains last year of which nine have gone missing, park official Phanindra Kharel said. "This shows that the rhinoceros are under threat from poachers," he said. "This is very serious and if this continues we may not have any rhinoceros left soon."

Hidden cameras in the jungles of Indonesia's Java island have captured rare footage of the world's most threatened rhino, boosting efforts to save it from extinction, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF),, said on Thursday. ' Two camera traps set up by the environmental group in the remote Ujung Kulon national park have yielded footage of the endangered Javan rhinoceros, said Adhi Hariyadi, leader of the WWF project.

The NRIs (Assamese) in USA who have expressed deep concern on the increasing incidents of rhino poaching in Assam, have been preparing a white paper on the sensitive issue, disclosed Rajen Barua, the chief office-bearer of the Friends of Assam & Seven Sisters (FASS). Barua also emphasized the necessity for more awareness among the people and their perennial cooperation to save the endangered one-horned rhinos in the region.

Authorities in India's remote northeast said they were increasing security in the world's biggest reserve for the endangered great one-horned rhinoceros to save them from poachers. Poachers have killed at least 10 rhinos in two national parks in Assam state since January, eight of them at the Kaziranga National Park. "We are increasing the number of guards in Kaziranga because of a recent increase in poaching, and a probe has also been ordered," Rockybul Hussain, Assam's forest minister told Reuters on Wednesday.