India, Jan. 1 -- Assam did not record a single incident of rhino poaching in 2025 due to the state's excellent conservation efforts, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

"You heard it right, zero rhinos have been poached in Assam in 2025, continuing our excellent conservation efforts and maintaining our streak of protecting Assam's pride," the chief minister said in a post on X.

In 2022, the state was, for the first time since 1977, able to ensure that poachers did not kill a single rhino. But one rhino death was reported in 2023 while two were killed in 2024, which led the authorities to launch Operation Falcon, a multi-agency crackdown that have foiled nine poaching attempts.

A senior Assam police officer said 42 poac...