- The greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Rhinoceros unicornis has been listed in CITES Appendix I since 1975
- Close to 85% of the total population occurs in India, with about 75% in the state of Assam.
- Indian Rhino Vision (IRV) 2020 is a partnership between:
- the Assam Forest Department,
- the Bodoland Territorial Council,
- the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF),
- the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), and
- the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
- The goal is to attain a wild population of at least 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos in the Indian state of Assam by the year 2020.
- The Indian and Nepalese governments have taken major steps towards Indian rhinoceros conservation, especially with the help of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and other non-governmental organizations
Facts on threats:
- The extent and quality of the rhino’s most important habitat, alluvial grassland and riverine forest, is considered to be in decline due to human and livestock encroachment
- The Indian rhinoceros once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but excessive hunting and agricultural development reduced their range drastically to 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal
- As a result of habitat destruction and climatic changes their range has gradually been reduced so that by the 19th century, they only survived in the Terai grasslands of southern Nepal, northern Uttar Pradesh, northern Bihar, northern Bengal, and in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam
Controversy:
- Government is trying to revoke visa of a BBC correspondent who has made a documentary showing that Forest guards have killed more poachers than poachers have killed Rhinos.