Assam govt burns around 2,500 rhino horns to mark World Rhino Day

On the occasion of World Rhino Day, the Assam government on Wednesday burned around 2,500 rhino horns to bust myths associated with it.

The rhino horns were burned at Bokakhat, Assam's Golaghat district, near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR).

The state government has decided to destroy 2,479 rhino horns while 94 horns will be preserved for academic purposes.

With the help of a drone, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma started the process of burning rhino horns.

Taking to Twitter, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the use of rhinos' horns for medicinal purposes is a myth.

"One-horned rhino is not only integral to our civilisation, but also a symbol of our prized heritage and identity. We are preserving 94 rhino horns for display at a museum to be set up at Kaziranga National Park. The use of rhinos' horns for medicinal purposes is a myth," he said in a tweet.

Sarma further said that the one-horned rhino is "not only integral to our civilisation, but also a symbol of our prized heritage and identity".

"We are preserving 94 rhino horns for display at a museum to be set up at Kaziranga National Park. The use of rhinos' horns for medicinal purposes is a myth," Sarma added.

Assam has the largest population of greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicorns) in the world.

Around 2,600 individual rhinos are found in Kaziranga, Manas and Orang National Parks, besides Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.

They were earlier found in Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary and some other parts of the state from Goalpara in the west to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in the east.

( With inputs from ANI )