India calls on the army to protect endangered rhinos
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GUWAHATI, INDIA — Authorities in northeastern India have asked the army to help protect endangered one-horned rhinoceroses from poachers and have made the soldiers honorary wildlife wardens, officials said Saturday.
Kaziranga National Park, about 135 miles east of Guwahati, is home to more than 1,800 of the world’s estimated 3,000 one-horned rhinos. Poachers killed about 20 rhinos in the park last year and six have been killed this year.
The armed gangs of poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe have aphrodisiac qualities, and are used in medicines in parts of South and Southeast Asia.
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