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Two women held with rhino horn
KATHMANDU, JUN 21 -
Even as rhino poaching in the Chitwan National Park (CNP), a major wildlife reserve in the country, goes unabated, police on Monday arrested two women with a rhino horn from Mugling, Chitwan, district.
Anita Tamang, 35, of Dandakharka-4 and Pema Lama, 35, of Namtar-6 in Makwanpur district, were picked up with the rhino horn weighing 800 grams and measuring seven inches long. According to the District Police Office, Chitwan, Tamang and Lama where headed for Kathmandu from Makwanpur when they were apprehended.
A total of 28 endangered one-horned rhinos have been killed inside the CNP in the last 11 months. The rise in the killing of rhinos inside protected areas across the country has triggered a massive outcry from conservationists.
Prahlad Yonzon, a wildlife expert associated with Resources Himalaya, an NGO working for wildlife conservation, said poachers are taking advantage of the country’s system and the current political
situation.
Despite the presence of 840 security personnel in 47 security posts, dozens of field staff and about 37 villages inside the buffer zone areas of CNP, the rhinos are being killed, he told the Post.
Moreover, dozens of INGO/NGOs are working in and around CNP for rhino conservation, Yonzon added.
“The existing institutional mechanism should be restructured and effective conservation strategies should be implemented with stratified responsibility of each stakeholder,” Yonzon added.
Presently, no one is ready to take the responsibility for rhino killings as everyone is coming up with lame excuses, he added.
“Neither Nepal Army personnel nor the park management and buffer zone communities are owning up the unabated rise in the killing of rhinos inside protected areas,” Yonzon said. Narendra Babu Pradhan, the chief warden of CNP, said that due to lack of well-equipped human resources and security posts inside the park area, the rhinos are being killed frequently there.
Posted on: 2010-06-22 08:37
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