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Assam govt burns 2,500 seized rhino horns in special ceremony. Here's why

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 9/23/2021 6:06:03 AM

Kaziranga, Sep 22 Nearly 2,500 rhino horns, claimed to be the world’s largest such stockpile, were consigned to flames in Assam on Wednesday. On the occasion of World Rhino Day, the Assam government burned 2,479 rhino horns to bust myths associated with it. The ritualistic burning of the rhino horns was done publicly at Bokakhat on the occasion of World Rhino Day in the presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, some of his cabinet colleagues, including Forest and Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya and local AGP MLA and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, senior forest department officials and conservationists in a first of its kind exercise in the country. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the special drive is part of an effort to curb poaching of the endangered onehorned Indian rhinoceros. "We want to give a strong message to the world that the rhino alive with the horn on its head is precious to us, and not a dead animal with its pride removed by poachers or those kept in the government treasuries," he said. The chief minister argued that since the horns have no proven medicinal values, allowing them to be sold tantamounted to cheating people and encouraging poaching. Out of 2623 reconciled horns, 94 will be showcased in a museum to be set up at Kaziranga National Park, while 29 will be kept for ongoing court cases.