 Reference Base  Under siege: poaching and protection of greater one-horne... |
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Menon, V., 1995. Under siege: poaching and protection of greater one-horned rhinoceroses in India. Delhi, Traffic India, pp. i-iv, 1-114
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| Location: |
World |
| Subject: |
Trade |
| Species: |
All Rhino Species |
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Bhutan was traditionally viewed as a Buddhist protectorate where the very laws of ahimsa decreed that animals should not be killed. Martin et al. (1987) documented what they said was a new threat from Bhutan, reporting the incident of December 1979 when the King of Bhutan shot a rhinoceros in the Bhutanese part of Manas. It is recorded that although the horn and tail were removed, the rest of the carcass was buried. Many believed this to be a royal ceremony where once in the life-time of the monarch, one rhinoceros was to be hunted.
What was brought home to conservationists, however, was the use of Bhutan as a conduit in the trade of rhinoceros horn, a fact not formerly suspected. The major Indian trade centre of Siliguri is very close (35km) from the border town of Jaigaon, from where the Bhutanese town of Paro is less than 100 km. Paro has an airport that operates fliahts to Ban-kok, and was part of an easy route for horn to pass undetected past a relatively lax and uninformed law enforcement agency.
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