Protecting India’s one-horned rhinos in Kaziranga - in pictures

A small group of forest guards, carrying their ageing rifles and small plastic torches, are on the front line of the battle against increasingly sophisticated international poaching networks that prey on the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinos.

The rising demand can be traced to a surge in prices for their horns which can top $100,000 (Dh367,270) per kilo for the final product.

Sorumai Saura, the widow of an alleged poacher who was killed by a forest guard, stands outside her home in a village on the edge of Kaziranga National Park, some 250km east of Guwahati.

Kaziranga’s forest guards have the right to shoot suspected poachers on sight, and dozens have been killed over the last decade.

The policy is controversial, but they argue it is justified as no one is allowed to enter the park without permission.

Park rangers say they are woefully under-equipped to deal with the modern, sophisticated weapons used by the poachers, including AK47s and night-vision goggles.

WWF India says the priority should be to provide the struggling forest guards with better equipment.

A decade ago, India had all but declared victory over poaching in Kaziranga, a 430-square-kilometre protected area of forest in the north-eastern state of Assam that is home to around 2,500 rhinos. But recent years have seen an alarming upsurge in the slaughter of the animals, whose horn is highly prized in neighbouring China and in Vietnam.

All photos by Biju Boro, AFP