Rohit Sharma goes into bat with Animal Planet rhino campaign
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 05 September 2019

Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma has teamed with Discovery channel Animal Planet and conservation group WWF India to campaign for the survival of India’s Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros.

Animal Planet will launch the campaign on 22 September, to commemorate World Rhino Day,with Rohit pledging to do his bit to save the “vulnerable” species from extinction. Through the following week, Animal Planet will run a series of programmes to educate people about their plight.

Of the estimated 3500 Indian rhinos left in the world, 82% are found in India. Once found abundantly across the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra river basins, the animal is now found only in select pockets in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.

A special page, www.rohit4rhinos.org is also being created to strengthen the campaign, through which viewers can pledge their support to the cause.

“It is our duty as co-inhabitants of this planet to try and protect other species that walk this planet, alongside us,” said Rohit Sharma.

“The future is in our hands and we should do whatever we can to ensure that our children are able to enjoy the rich bio-diversity this world has to offer. I hope that this campaign will inspire others to come forward and join Animal Planet, WWF India and I in this endeavour to save the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros,” he added.

Discovery’s managing director in South Asia, Megha Tata, said: “Discovery has long been committed to telling the stories and protecting the creatures that make our planet extraordinary. We remain steadfast to leverage the brand strength of India’s leading wildlife channel Animal Planet to galvanise people power for the cause of endangered species. We are confident that Rohit’s strong support for the cause of Rhino conservation will help more people to join us for the cause of saving these gentle giants”.