Decades of poaching and habitat destruction brought the species to the brink of extinction in the 1900s. Today fewer than 2,000 rhinos live in fragmented pockets of Nepal and northeastern India.
Last January wildlife officials announced that more than four dozen rhinos appeared to have gone missing in Nepal over the course of a few years, most likely due to unchecked poaching.
Royal Chitwan National Park saw its rhino numbers fall from 544 in 2000 to 372 in 2005.
A recent spate of rhino killings prompted Nepal's government and conservation authorities in February to ramp up anti-poaching measures and launch the latest census.
About 200 wildlife biologists, technicians, forest rangers, and field observers took part in the survey, which was a joint effort among Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, WWF-Nepal, and the National Trust for Nature Conservation.
The team also included 40 elephants that ferried members through remote forest areas, said WWF-Nepal spokesperson Anil Manandhar, who is unrelated to the national parks division's Laxmi Prasad Manandhar.
The census used global positioning systems for the first time, and observers carried digital cameras to photograph every rhino seen, WWF's Manandhar said.
Full results of the census are expected in the next two weeks.
"The final numbers will give us a clearer picture as to whether poaching is reducing in other parts of the country as well, and not just in Chitwan," he said.
|
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
|
