Saving Planet Earth (2007) - 1x05 - Phil Tufnell: Saving Rhinos

What a trip this was. I couldn't have arrived at a more tense time. Four rhino had recently been slaughtered here in the Kaziranga National Park.

On one hand it's a stunning place, home to all sorts of wildlife. On the other it's a battleground, not just for the rhinos, but for the park's guards who are trying to protect them.

The park is home to three quarters of the world's Indian rhino population. That's around 1,900 of the fellas. The guards who protect the rhino are on constant alert for poachers, and literally lay their lives on the line.

It's not a game. In the past 20 years, over 60 people – poachers and guards – have been killed in combat.

The people who try to kill the rhino obviously do it for money. However, I'm starting to realise they are along way down the supply and demand chain. Somebody, somewhere, is making a lot of cash out of rhino horn... and it's certainly not the locals.

What’s great to see though, is that these guys are not alone. The Aaranyak Rhino Project, supported by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, gives really important communications equipment to the forest guards to help them. It also funds anti-poaching operations and illegal trade investigations.

Poaching is not the only thing putting the rhino under pressure. Parts of the park are also disappearing. When the rainy season it at its worst, the amount of water from the huge Brahmaputra River has a really catastrophic effect. This puts the future of the park and the rhinos safety at real risk.

I can only say Kaziranga is a unique place. If we don't get behind the forest guards and support these projects then three quarters of the world's Indian rhino will be gone forever. It’s perhaps hard to understand, but this place will never be the same again if we let that happen.