Male rhinos ready, search for females begins
KATHMANDU – Chitwan National Park (CNP) Administration has been striving recently to make “rhino diplomacy” a success. The efforts are being undertaken to live up to the government promise to give away two pairs of rhinoceros to China.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali recently returned from a visit to China to make preparations for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to the norther neighbor. The Forest Ministry administration is making a plan to gift rhinoceros to China amid a special program. According to Forest Ministry sources, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and PM Oli will give away the rhinos to China.
Information Officer at Chitwan National Park, Narendra Aryal said a pair of male rhinos was captured until Saturday evening. The CNP mobilized teams to catch a pair of female rhinos from early Sunday.
“Of the two male rhinos, one 12-month-old male and another one caught on Saturday is one-and-a-half-year-old,” said Aryal, talking to Hakahaki on Saturday evening, “The other two female rhinos to be caught will also around the same age. We are trying to catch, let’s see how long it will take.” One of the two captured rhinos was caught by CNP in July last year and is being kept at Sauraha. The rhino is 12-month-old. Another male was darted and caught from Khoriya Muhan Devi lake area, and brought to Sauraha.
CNP administration wildlife workers, veterinary physician, technicians and a representative of Chinese government have been mobilized in search of rhinoceros. “The task of darting and translocating rhino isn’t not difficult for us. Because we are used to doing it in the past as well,” said Aryal.
He said Nepal government will bear the entire expenses required for searching, darting, making a cage and keeping them ready. These rhinos will be flown by aircraft. “They will be bidden farewell by keeping them in a cage according to international aviation rule,” said Aryal.
Last time, then crown prince Paras Shah had gifted a pair of rhinos to Austria government in 2006. Since then, the rhino diplomacy has come to a full stop for a decade.
But then again in January, 2016, China’s Forest Minister and Deputy Minister of Communist Party International Department had requested Nepal to gift two pairs of one-horned rhinos during the then forest minister Agni Sapkota’s visit to China. Minister Sapkota had informed the Cabinet about the request from Chinese government. The Cabinet had directed the forest administration to study national and international laws on whether it would be possible or not to gift the rare rhinos. After the administration gave a thumbs up, the then government on July 10, 2016 decided to gift two pairs rhinos to China.
Once the Chinese government was informed about the government decision to gift rhinos, a seven-member team of experts from China came to Nepal and visited Chitwa. The two sides arrived at an agreement that the rhinos should be kept in cage for about six months before translocating them to a new environment. Then the Chinese team of experts was led by deputy director at the office of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
In 1987, Nepal had for the first time gifted a pair of rhinos to US President Ronald Regan, opening the door for rhino diplomacy. Nepal government had donated three pairs of rhinos, the highest so far, to various zoos of US. As it was not possible to gift directly to zoos, they were given away as gifts to US government.
Southern neighbor India had also been gifted two pairs of rhinos. In exchange, Nepal had brought 16 elephants from India. After the elephants were brought from India, elephant breeding center was established in Chitwan. However, there had been debates that the elephants brought from India were not healthy.
Until a decade ago, Nepal had gifted rhinos to nine countries. The rhino diplomacy halted due to various political movements has resume again. The one-horned rhino found in Nepal is a rare wildlife species.
According to unrefined data given by Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, 24 rhinos have been given away in the name of gifts or exchanges. Six rhinos have been given to US, four to India, two to Austria, two to England, two to Japan, two to Germany, two to Pakistan, two to Myanmar (Burma), and two to Thailand.
Before the country was declared a republic (on May 28, 2008), former kings and other members of royal family used to gift rhinos to various countries in the name of building ties. At the direction of palace, King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation used to make all necessary arrangements for giving away the gifts. This trend continued until 2006.
Cities has put one-horned rhino on the top list of endangered species in a bid to curb the escalation of ivory and rhino horn smuggling. National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (5th Amendment) has kept rhinos on the list of rare species.
According to the latest census, there are a total of 648 rhinos in Nepal. Of them, there are 600 rhinos in Chitwan National Park, 35 in Bardiya National Park and 8 in Shuklaphanta National Park. There are around 25,00 rhinos in Nepal and India.
