Assam: No rhino poaching in 2025, says IFR Report, major milestone for the state

Assam, home to nearly 80 per cent of the world’s greater one-horned rhinoceros population, recorded a major conservation milestone in 2025 by reporting zero known rhino poaching incidents, according to the International Rhino Foundation’s (IRF) 2026 State of the Rhino report.

The achievement marks only the second time since the 1970s that Assam has recorded a year without a known rhino poaching incident. The state had previously achieved the milestone in 2022.

Assam is estimated to have around 3,260 greater one-horned rhinos, making it the species’ largest global stronghold. Kaziranga National Park accounts for more than 2,600 rhinos, i.e. 70% of the global one-horned rhino population, while Manas National Park is home to around 40-50 of them.

The latest achievement is significant given Assam’s history of organised rhino poaching. During the mid-2010s, the state witnessed years in which nearly 30 rhinos were killed in a single year. 

The reversal has been attributed to stronger intelligence gathering, coordinated enforcement, improved surveillance, and greater vigilance by frontline forest personnel and local communities.

The IRF report said Assam and Nepal both recorded zero known poaching of greater one-horned rhinos in 2025. Nepal has achieved the milestone 10 times since 2011, while Assam first recorded zero known rhino poaching in 2022.

Global population is showing recovery

The conservation gains in Assam come as the global greater one-horned rhino population continues to show a gradual recovery. The latest International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimate puts the global population at about 4,075, up from 4,014 in 2022.

Despite the increase, the species remains classified as vulnerable, with habitat degradation, invasive vegetation, and poaching continuing to pose threats.

For Assam, the conservation challenge is therefore extending beyond preventing poaching to ensuring that the growing rhino population has sufficient and healthy habitat.

Kaziranga remains at the centre of the state's rhino conservation efforts. With more than 2,600 rhinos, the park holds the world's largest single population of the species. Its conservation success has also made the rhino an important symbol of Assam's wildlife protection efforts and a major attraction for the state's tourism economy.

Manas emerges as a conservation success story

Conservation efforts have also focused on rebuilding rhino populations in other landscapes, with Manas National Park emerging as an important example of translocation and rewilding.

Between 2006 and 2021, 22 greater one-horned rhinos were translocated to Manas from other parts of Assam, while 20 orphaned or injured rhinos were subsequently rewilded.

The population has since begun breeding, which the report identifies as an important indication that the reintroduction programme is moving beyond simply ensuring survival towards establishing a self-sustaining population.

However, the IRF cautioned that habitat quality will determine whether such population expansion can be sustained. Conservation groups in Manas are working to maintain water sources and remove invasive plants from degraded grasslands.

The report stressed that simply expanding the geographical range of rhinos does not automatically translate into successful conservation. New habitats need adequate food and water, ecological resilience, and sufficient protection from poaching and human-wildlife conflict.

The next major challenge - Habitat

Assam's progress in controlling poaching has been supported by a combination of protection measures, intelligence-led enforcement, technology, ranger training and community participation, the report said.

At the same time, the gains remain vulnerable to pressures on habitat. Habitat fragmentation, invasive species, water shortages, and expanding human activity can undermine rhino population growth even when poaching is brought under control.

The conservation milestone, therefore, represents both an achievement and a shift in the challenge facing Assam: from keeping rhinos alive to ensuring that the state's landscapes can sustainably support a growing population.

With World Rhino Day approaching on September 22, the publication of the IFR report, along with Assam achieving this significant milestone, will serve as a powerful symbol of the growing consciousness and commitment towards rhino conservation in the state.