 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: |
Asia - South Asia - India |
| Subject: |
Value - Related to Horn |
| Species: |
Asian Rhino Species |
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Export trade in rhinoceros horn was illegal in India from 1972, but between 1965 and 1980 the State of Assam put up rhinoceros homs (from animals killed by poachers or by natural causes) for legal tender on the domestic market, and these auctions are said to have been the largest source of smuggled horn from India after 1972. Auctions stopped after 1979-80 as a result of pressure from conservationists. No horn from West Bengal has ever been auctioned. Auctioned horns were graded into three qualities: sound, defective and third quality.
Sound horns were full horns with no cracks in them
Defective horns had varying numbers of cracks in them.
The third quality grade was usually for broken horns.
Martin (1983b) documents that while most bidders at such auctions were traders from Calcutta, from 1965 to 1976 a Kathmandu-based Nepalese bought all the horn, whereas from 1978 to 1980 a merchant from Manipur outbid all others. While recording this, he does not document whether these Calcutta-based and Manipur-based traders are Marwaris, but field investigations for this report indicate that this could have been the case.
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