By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Jan. 5: A total of 19 rhinos have died across Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. Some died a natural death; others were killed by poachers or by tigers. One rhino died while fighting among themselves.

The natural deaths, whose causes remain unknown, have baffled the conservationists.

Of the total dead rhinos, four were related to poaching, one baby rhino was killed by a tiger, one died after falling from a cliff while 13 others met natural deaths, said Haribhadra Acharya, information officer of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC).      

Since 2011 Nepal has been celebrating zero poaching year every year, because of which its fight against poaching is said to be successful. However, growing deaths from natural causes, along with the poaching activities during the nationwide lockdown, have given headaches to the conservationists.

‘‘We are working cautiously to minimise rhino deaths even as 19 have already died over the first seven months,’’ Acharya said.

A nine-member task force of specialists led by Ram Chandra Kandel, Deputy Director-General of DNPWC, is arriving in Chitwan National Park on Tuesday to investigate the causes of the deaths of rhinos.

Chitwan National Park, a World Heritage Site, on average has reported 23 to 25 rhino death by natural causes every year. However, the deaths of 43 rhinos in the previous year have become a matter of grave concern.