Failed to check the poaching of one-horned rhinos in Assam, the Government is at present mulling a proposal to dehorn the rhinos like some of the African nations, which claimed to have succeeded in controlling the rhino poaching after dehorning those.

“We have received some proposals to dehorn the rhinos, which we are planning to translocate to Laokhowa and Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary this year,” Assam Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain recently informed the State Assembly. He informed the House that the Government has constituted an expert committee to look into the feasibility of dehorning the rhinos to save them from poaching.

However, Nature’s Beckon, an Assam based wildlife conservation group, has questioned the legality of the move and said that it would have severe impact on the animal and on the conservationists and society as well.

“The horn has natural significance for the rhinos. So after dehorning, the rhinos would definitely have biological impact on them. Again, if the Government dehorns the rhino only because of the fact that they cannot stop poaching, it would affect the conservationist and people of the society-as it would simply mean bowing down to the poachers,” said Soumyadeep Datta, secretary of the Nature's Beckon. He said that the dehorning had not been accepted as successful model anywhere in the world.

Datta also slammed the whole process of rhino translocation and said that the whole project of rhino translocation is aimed at making money by a section of people and organisation. “The rhinos from the protected areas of Assam choose their habitats themselves naturally. The rhinos from Kaziranga go to Panidehing and even to Majuli-it is their natural selection of habitat. The Governmenrt had failed to give protection to the animal and forcefully bring them back to the parks,” he said.

He said that dehorning is not justified as the animal has a threat to its life owing to its horn — this only suggests the Government’s helplessness to stop a crime. It may be mentioned here that Assam has 2,552 rhinos at present. While Kaziranga National Park in Assam has the highest rhino population with 2,329 rhinos, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Orang National Park have 100 rhinos each. The Manas National Park has about 23 rhinos at present.

The Government’s move came after close to 100 rhinos had already been killed by poachers inside the protected areas of the State within last five years — from 2008 to 2013. Although the Government had taken up several steps to stop poaching, yet poaching continues unabated in Assam.