Assam burns rhino horns to bust myth on medicinal value
GUWAHATI: Nearly 2,500 rhino horns, which officials say was the world’s largest such stockpile, were burnt and destroyed in Assam’s Bokakhat on Wednesday to mark World Rhino Day and discourage the myths that have propelled poaching of the endangered pachyderms.
About 2,479 horns weighing around 1,300kg, which had been seized from poachers and illegal traders or recovered from dead rhinos in the state’s national parks and wildlife sanctuaries since 1979, were burnt in six large pyres at a stadium in Bokakhat, 240 km east of Guwahati.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, accompanied by several cabinet colleagues, lit the pyres remotely through drones.
“Through this event, we want to convey to the world that...there is no medicinal value to them (rhino horns). We want to urge people not to kill these rare animals or buy their horns based on superstitions or myths. We should allow rhinos to live and grow naturally,” Sarma said.
The chief minister said it was necessary not to sell the horns and add value to the illegal poaching industry. “Some are saying that instead of destroying the horns we should have sold them. But like the way we can’t sell seized drugs to earn revenue, the same way a government can’t earn money by selling rhino horns,” he said.
He added that this may be the largest such pile to be destroyed. “In South Africa, they have burned seized rhino horns, but the quantity is not that large. I think today we are setting a world record,” Sarma said.
Though there is no scientific basis, the demand for rhinoceros horns is born out of demand in some Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where these are used to practice traditional medicine. Each horn, which is made up of keratin (found commonly in hair and nails), is valued over thousands of US dollars, driving the rampant killing of rhinos in Asia and Africa.
At 71%, Assam is home to the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceros.
Rhinoceros are listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as endangered animals and there is an international ban on trade of rhino horns under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 allows for destruction of wildlife parts (including rhino horn) under Section 39 (3). On September 16, the Assam cabinet had approved destruction of the horns kept in treasuries.
While 2,479 horns were destroyed in Assam on Wednesday, 50 more associated with pending court cases will be kept in state treasuries and 94 others will be preserved for exhibition or educational purposes.
The state government said it will set up a natural history museum near the Kaziranga national park to keep the preserved pieces.
Before destroying them, experts verified the horns using scientific methods at the 12 treasuries where they were kept. Each horn was cleaned, weighed, photographed, labelled with a unique barcode, DNA samples extracted, and packed and sealed again in the presence of several witnesses.
“This is a rare event... the horns were verified in a very transparent manner before destroying them,” forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya said at the event on Wednesday.