KATHMANDU, JAN 16 - Ten one-horned rhinos from the Royal Chitwan National Park will find their new home in the Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in Kanchanpur in February, according to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC).
"We are all set to move ten rhinos from Chitwan to Shukla Phanta from February 20," Shyam Bajimaya, a senior ecologist overseeing the translocation told The Kathmandu Post today.
This is the second time rhinos from the RCNP are being moved to the reserve in western Nepal. Two years ago also, the reserve had received four rhinos from the RCNP.
Hyped as one of the most successful bio-diversity conservation efforts in Nepal, the history of rhino-translocation began in Nepal in 1986 in a bid to establish "new viable population" of the species. Since then, altogether 87 rhinos have been moved from the RCNP to the Royal Bardiya National Park and Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve.
"It is necessary to protect one-horned rhinos from any natural and other disaster by creating a viable population in places other than the RCNP, and translocation is the only way to achieve this objective" ecologist Bajimaya said highlighting the importance of the translocation.
King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation and World Wildlife Fund are supporting the translocation efforts of the DNPWC technically and financially.
Nepal began its concerted efforts to protect the endangered one-horned rhinos ever since the establishment of the park in 1973 when the number of the species was 100. At present the RCNP houses 544 rhinos of the total 612 in Nepal. The
remaining are in the Royal Bardia National Park and the Shukla Phanta. Posted on: 2004-01-17 04:00

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