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Anupam Nath / AP
Tourists watch a one-horned rhinoceros inside the Kaziranga National Park, a wildlife reserve that provides refuge to more than 2,200 endangered Indian one-horned rhinoceros, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam.
Anupam Nath / AP
A one-horned rhinoceros stands inside the Kaziranga National Park.
Anupam Nath / AP
Forest guards patrol inside the Kaziranga National Park.
The Associated Press reports from Kaziranga, India — Out of the early morning mists and tall grass of northeast India emerges a massive creature with a dinosaur-like face, having survived millions of years despite a curse — literally on its head. As elephant-borne riders approach, the formidable hulk sniffs the air for danger, then resumes its breakfast.
This is Kaziranga, refuge to more than 2,200 endangered Indian rhinoceros and one of the world's best-protected wildlife reserves. But even here, where rangers follow shoot-to-kill orders, poachers are laying siege to "Fortress Kaziranga," attempting to sheer off the animals' horns to supply a surge in demand for purported medicine in China that's pricier than gold. At least 18 rhino fell to poachers in and around the park in 2012, compared to 10 in all of India in 2011. Read the full story.
Anupam Nath / AP
A two-and-half-month old male orphan one-horned rhinoceros calf rescued during recent floods walks at a rehabilitation center inside the Kaziranga National Park.
Anupam Nath / AP
A one-horned rhinoceros wades in water as a forest guard stands nearby inside the Kaziranga National Park.
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It's because of the whack jobs (men) in China who believe things like rhino horn powder or shark fins or whatever other nonsense they believe in will help them be more "viral". I say anyone in China found with any of these exotics should be jailed for life.
Boycott China made goods.
I, for one, am happy living the "simple life".
I don't need 100 pairs of China made shoes.
I don't need some fancy "i-phone" plastic gizmo made in China.
If enough people around the world do this, Red China may eventually get the message.
The world's wild animals are not there to be butchered for their body parts.
One may argue that:
US kill innocent civilians from her war of aggression - millions of Vietnames and Iraqis.
Boycott US made goods.
I like the shoot to kill policy. It should be implimented world wide for more than just these poor creatures.
If the UN was more than just a useless money pit, this would be a perfect job for them.
I wouldn't have given it a second thought if we had used all the taxpayer money we spent on two useless wars in the Middle East to keep these magnificent animals, as well as the African elephants, safe. They are completely at the mercy of man, which is a pretty discouraging thought. May the Asian governments rot in hell for eternity for their unconscionable cruelty.
Skin the POACHERs alive! - the poachers are animals/non-human and we as humans, must consider them the lowest form of life and treat them as one would a cockroach inside your house... squish!
It is only a matter of time until India discovers their prime minister is involved in 'renting' hunting rights for rhinos to Chinese entrepreneurs. With all the people in India, it would be possible to assign two dozen unemployed people to watch each rhino in the country to keep it safe, but they still haven't even figured out how to disperse millions of tons of rice to their own starving people before it rots.