In 2013 and 2014, Assam lost 27 rhinos to poaching each year.

Kaziranga National Park, which holds the world’s largest population of greater one-horned rhinoceroses, was at the heart of the battle. Organised poaching networks, difficult terrain and annual floods made protecting the animals an enormous challenge.

Less than a decade later, the numbers told a very different story.

In 2022, Assam recorded zero rhino poaching for the first time since 1977, making it the state’s first poaching-free year in 45 years.

The milestone emerged from years of work by forest officials, guards, police personnel and local communities. Among the officers helping strengthen and sustain this protection system is 1989-batch IFS officer Sandeep Kumar, who currently serves as Assam’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF).

From reacting to poachers to stopping them early

Between 2000 and 2021, at least 191 rhinos were poached across Assam. After peaking at 27 deaths each in 2013 and 2014, the number gradually fell to three in 2019, two in 2020 and two in 2021.

A key change came from treating poaching as an organised crime that required coordinated intelligence and enforcement.

In 2021, Assam constituted a Special Anti-Poaching Task Force, bringing forest and........

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