Kevin Pietersen, an English former cricketer and conservationist, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for standing up for rhino conservation. He thanked Prime Minister Modi and urged other world leaders to follow in the footsteps of the Indian Prime Minister, who praised Assam for its efforts to protect the one-horned rhino from poaching. “The one-horned rhino is the pride of India,” the Prime Minister said, adding that “every effort will be made to ensure its survival.” Kevin Pietersen, who referred to him as a “hero,” stated that rhino populations in India are rapidly increasing and that “this is the reason.”
Mr Pietersen cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tweet praising “team Assam” for taking steps to halt the single-horned rhino extinction.
On World Rhino Day, September 22, the Assam government burned 2 479 rare rhino horns during a public ceremony in the middle of vedic rituals in a one-of-a-kind anti-poaching drive. Following the reading of the last rites by priests, the horns were fired on six pyres. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was the keynote speaker at the ceremony, stated that the drive will send a strong message to the world that Assam only values the horns of living rhinos.
“The commendable effort of the Assam team. The one-horned rhino is India’s pride, and it will go to any length to ensure its survival “PM Modi stated in a tweet.
The single-horned rhinoceros, which were once common in eastern India, are now mostly found in Assam. Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the world’s largest population of single-horned rhinos.
Their numbers have been reduced, however, due to horn wildfires and habitat loss in traditional medicines in certain Asian countries such as China and Vietnam. The International Trade in Endangered Wild Fauna and Flora Species Convention prohibited the trade in rhino horns in 1977.