Wildlife conservationists are celebrating the discovery of the first rhino calf known to be born in Bardia National Park since the clampdown on poaching two years ago.
The female greater one-horned rhino calf was spotted with its mother on a dead tree in the middle of a river by a elephant-back patrol recently. The calf was transported back to Park headquarters in Kasara, where it is being treated for a broken leg.
Anti-poaching and monitoring patrols have been carried out by the Department for National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), with support from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and a grant from the Darwin Initiative.
Dr Rajan Amin, Senior Field Conservation Biologist at ZSL, said: “With so few rhinos left in Nepal, every new calf is crucial to securing the long-term survival of the species. The rhino also act as an umbrella species for the grassland ecosystem; by conserving them, we’re protecting the whole ecosystem which services other species – including ourselves.”
Nepal’s rhino population has come under intense pressure in the last decade, as poaching has been facilitated by the civil war and its aftermath. Less than 450 rhinos remain in three populations in Bardia and Chitwan National Parks, and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve. The rhinos are also threatened by habitat degradation, invasive alien plant species, and conflict with people who live in the vicinity of the protected areas.
The birth of calves, however, is a strong indicator that the patrols are helping to stabilise the country’s rhino population. The elephant-back patrol teams have also been successful in Chitwan National Park, where a female calf was recently rescued after being separated from its mother during the monsoon.
“There is no quick solution for the greater one-horned rhino, but we’re committed to their long-term protection”, said Naresh Subedi of NTNC. “The elephant-back patrols, combined with improved habitat management, raising awareness of the threats facing them through community art projects, and providing local people with alternative livelihoods are all helping to ease the pressure on these iconic animals.”
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I hope the saved rhino calf will make through to become an adult. If only we could have more of such births. Those poachers should all be permanently put to jail and all their properties should be seized by the government to be used for conservation works. Those poachers are not only threatening the existence of rhinos only but are threatening the whole ecosystem including that of humans. So poaching should be declared as crime against humanity, equivalent to that of a murder and hence punishable accordingly. Our legal system is so weak against such murderers that they pay some money and again go back to committing the same crime. So our laws should be more strict.
Another problem is the park-people conflict. The local people living around the conservation areas themselves must be engaged into conservation activities to preserve the area. As long as we treat the locals as outsiders and as a threat to park area, there will be conflict always. So solutions should be met such that the basic needs of the local people will get fulfilled and they also get involved in conserving the area. Some amount of effort is there but more needs to be done.
A star rhino may have been be born, in another part of the country!.This rhino calf newly born will be the harbinger of good days to come. Hope keeps man as well as woman alive.It is also poor man’s bread .
Democracy in Nepal is like the rhino calf. It is poached, beaten, mutilated, and its horn is sold to foreigners for prolonging their life or manhood.
Innocent poor people are mislead, exploited, by promising some thing unattainable fast. Political expediency , deceit and chicanery are the tactic of the day.
We are not the nation of fatalists as some sociologists with the influence of the westerners have said and become their hero. We believe in Karma,action.We should not be ignorant of our own tradition and philosophical roots.Fatalist believe in destiny without efforts.
With the above explanation for little relief at this moment of disappointments ,
let this birth of the rhino herald good time to come for all of us during the forthcoming Dasai.
Let not we whose one consolation is the birth of a rhino,die by hunger as we are living now by hope against hope!
plz do not call it one horned rhino, it sound inferior to two horned african rhino.
use catchy name related to its skin. …
in nepal, we recognize rhino with its skin.
remember the joke, if we tickle rhino, it will laugh after a few hours….
What a handsome baby rhino.
The rhinos don’t need to listen to those Pariwar Niyojan walas, but unfortunately, they seem to be the one group of species who are under the sway of Pariwar Niyojan guys.