From zero to 54 rhinos: How Assam’s former poachers became protectors and helped bring Greater One-horned Rhinos back to Manas National Park

For years, Manas National Park in Assam had nearly no Greater One-horned Rhinos left to protect. Poaching, conflict and the destruction of the park’s infrastructure had pushed the iconic animal out of the landscape entirely. But its story did not end there. A remarkable conservation effort eventually brought rhinos back, while some former poachers turned their knowledge of the forest into a tool for protecting wildlife. By 2022, an estimated 54 rhinos were thriving across the Manas Landscape.

When rhinos disappeared from Manas

Today, sightings of a Greater One-horned Rhino create excitement in Manas National Park. That enthusiasm is especially significant given how completely the rhinos had disappeared from the park. A member of the Boro community told Our Better World that elephants, rhinos and tigers were heavily poached during the 1990s. By 2002, there was no longer any information about rhino poaching because “rhinos were completely gone.” The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) also reported that the Greater One-horned Rhino population in Manas National Park had fallen to zero.

The crisis was compounded by years of political violence. According to WWF, a violent local agitation that began in 1989 over demands for a separate Bodo homeland caused widespread upheaval across the region. The conflict severely damaged Manas, destroying anti-poaching camps, roads and bridges and resulting in the deaths of forest staff. The park’s uncertain future eventually attracted international concern. According to information on the UNESCO website, the World Heritage Committee placed Manas on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992 because of uncertainty surrounding the status of its rhinos and other wildlife. WWF reported that the last rhino in Manas disappeared in 1996.

The people who once hunted wildlife changed sides

As wildlife population collapsed, local communities began recognising that restoring the park would require more than simply bringing animals back. According to Our Better World, members of the All Bodo Students' Union decided to act after witnessing the damage being done to wildlife. They believed conservation would only be sustainable if the community itself was involved.

In 2003, they formed the Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society, or MMES, with the aim of involving local communities in protecting the land and its wildlife. One of its first priorities was tackling poaching. This led to one of the most unusual elements of Manas’ conservation story: former poachers were persuaded to use their intimate knowledge of the forest to become patrol guards instead.

Their work involved keeping other poachers out, dismantling hideouts and removing traps. The financial reward was modest, but it was meaningful at a time when many local people were struggling to make a living. One former poacher told Our Better World that they had once been able to predict “what kind of animal can be found in which area.” He admitted to hunting wild boar as well as deer, tigers, bears and bison because there was nobody to stop them. That knowledge of the forest, which had once aided illegal hunting, was now being used to protect animals.

Rhinos return to Manas

While communities were becoming more involved in protecting the park, conservation organisations and the Assam government were working to restore its rhino population. Under the ambitious Indian Rhino Vision 2020, or IRV 2020, rhinos began being translocated into Manas while efforts were made to rebuild the park’s infrastructure and improve protection.

According to the Manas National Park website, 18 rhinos were brought to Manas in 2008 as part of the Indian Rhino Vision programme. The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation subsequently moved eight more rhinos. The combined efforts eventually resulted in a population of 32 Indian Rhinos at Manas National Park, with the population stabilising and greater safety being established for the animals by 2019. The IRV 2020 programme brought together Assam’s government, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the International Rhino Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the World Wildlife Fund and the Bodoland Territorial Council.

The programme aimed to increase Assam’s Greater One-horned Rhino population to at least 3,000 and distribute them across seven national parks. Rhinos were moved from overcrowded areas such as Pobitora and Kaziranga to less crowded habitats including Manas, where they could breed and establish a new population.

From poaching to ecotourism

The return of rhinos also created a new economic reason for local communities to protect them. “When tourists come, they want to see animals,” said Dhan Chandra Doley, a local forest guard, adding that having rhinos would be helpful for tourism. WWF reported that the Manas Jungle Camp became part of a Community Conservation Tourism project featuring four small, eco-friendly huts operated by the Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society.

The project formed part of the wider effort to revive Manas and eventually help remove it from the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger list. The transformation of former poachers into conservation volunteers became one of the most striking examples of how the community was becoming part of the park’s recovery. Basumatary told WWF, “We used to have lots of poachers but now they are ‘protection volunteers.’” He also highlighted ecotourism as an alternative livelihood in a region without many industrial resources.

Manas now has a growing rhino population

The impact of these combined efforts became increasingly visible. The International Fund for Animal Welfare reported that by 2022, an estimated 54 Greater One-horned Rhinos were roaming and thriving in India’s Manas Landscape, with the population continuing to grow. The wider species has also recorded a significant conservation recovery. The Asian Rhino Specialist Group announced that the global population of the Greater One-horned Rhino, Rhinoceros unicornis, had increased to 4,014 individuals following a biannual survey completed in early 2022, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

The rhino’s return to Manas therefore represents more than a wildlife translocation. It reflects the combined impact of habitat restoration, conservation programmes, community participation and an unexpected transformation in which people who once knew the forest as hunters began using that same knowledge to protect its wildlife.