Leonardo DiCaprio impressed by Assam govt's efforts to protect one-horned rhinos

Prominent Hollywood actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio said he is highly impressed by the efforts of the Assam government to end poaching of endangered greater one-horned rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park in the state.

Kaziranga National Park is the biggest habitat for one-horned rhinos in the world. While there has been reports of poaching in 2015 (17) and 2016 (18), the number of such incidents declined in the following years. No poaching incident was reported in 2022, say media reports.

Taking to Instagram, the actor wrote: "In 2021, the government of the Indian state of Assam set out to end the poaching of the Endangered Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park following the killing of around 190 animals for their horns between 2000 and 2021. In 2022, they met their goal and no rhinos were poached in the area for the first time since 1977."

Kaziranga National Park is home to 2,200 Greater One-horned Rhinos, which is about two-thirds of the world's population, he noted.

"This triumph in India also comes with more good news, as @wwf also reports that the world population of the rare rhino soared to around 3,700 from about 200 at the turn of the 20th century," DiCaprio added.