Rohit Sharma, star batsman is launching Rohit4Rhinos campaign, in partnership with WWF India and Animal Planet, on World Rhino Day on September 22, where the cricketer pledges to take cudgels on behalf of the "vulnerable" species to save them from extinction. There are around 3,500 Indian rhinos left in the world. India is home to 82 per cent of the rhinos.
Once found abundantly across the Indus, Ganges and the Brahmaputra river basins, the animal is now found only in select pockets in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The state animal of Assam, the Indian rhinoceros faces several threats, including poaching, habitat loss and mass mortality from in-breeding and disease.
Rohit Sharma joined WWF India as its Brand Ambassador for Rhino Conservation in 2018.
"Decades old stories of rhino conservation success in India need to be told and we believe that the campaign #Rohit4Rhinos being implemented in partnership with WWF India and Animal Planet (wildlife channel) will also be able to bring attention to the challenges that conservationists face in protecting the species," said, Dr. Dipankar Ghose, Director, Species and Landscapes, WWF India.
