Guwahati: England cricketer Kevin Pietersen on Wednesday appreciated the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government as Rhino poaching in Assam dropped to the lowest as compared to previous years.
Pietersen took to the micro-blogging site Twitter and said,''Bravo, @narendramodi and bravo to all the men and women who sacrifice their lives in protecting the animals in India too. I've met lots of them and I respect you immensely!"
Acknowledging Pietersen's appreciation, Assam Chief Minister too took to the twitter and said that the state government has launched aggressive programs to curb poaching.
"Thanks for the acknowledgment @KP24. Inspired by Our PM @narendramodi we've launched aggressive programs to curb poaching. We're proud to have burnt & destroyed a stockpile of Rhino horns, largest ever in the world, on World Rhino Day to send a stern message to poachers & syndicate," he tweeted.
Notably, Pietersen tweeted this in a reply to a tweet from the Organiser Weekly, which stated that Rhinos poaching at 21 years low under the BJP government; Only 1 Rhino was killed by a poacher in 2021.
Assam witnessed only one case in 2021 of a one-horned rhino being killed by poachers in various National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries of the State.
This number is the lowest in the last 22 years. The previous two years have also witnessed a dip in incidents of rhino poaching, with two rhinos being killed in 2020 and three being killed in 2019.
It is worthy of mention that rhino poaching had reached its peak in 2013 and 2014, with 27 rhinos being killed each year.
The year-wise data of rhino poaching since 2000 is as follows: four in 2000; eight in 2001; four in 2002; three in 2003; four in 2004; seven in 2005; five in 2006; 16 in 2007; six in 2008; six in 2009; five in 2010; three in 2011; 11 in 2012; 27 in 2013; 27 in 2014; 17 in 2015; 18 in 2016; six in 2017; seven in 2018; three in 2019; two in 2020 and one in 2021.