By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Mar. 14: The government is poised to conduct rhino census in four national parks: Chitwan, Parsa, Bardiya and Shuklaphanta from March 22 this year.
The census, previously slated for 2018, was halted when the government did not allocate budget to the programme. A large number of rhinos were swept away by the massive floods of 2017, many of which died later on.
Rescheduled for 2019, the census couldn’t materialise again due to the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. a
The government has allocated Rs. 8 million this year for the programme, while the budget was Rs. 11 million in the last fiscal year, out of which Rs. 2.5 million was spent on equipment and the rest was returned, said Haribhadra Acharya, information officer at Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC).
Other organisations have also financially supported for the census. In all, the budget amounts to Rs. 132 million, he said.
The three-week-long Chitwan census will start from March 22, while two-week-long Bardia census from March 30; and one-week-long Shuklaphanta census from April 1.
The census will be conducted simultaneously in Chitwan and Parsa. There are more rhinos at Chitwan National Park than any other national parks so, it takes longer time here, said Acharya.
To carry out the census, 200 manpower including 40 enumerators will be deployed, along with 40 elephants for Chitwan and 7 to 8 elephants for other parks.
“The census will conduct at the end of month of Chaitra, and we expect to make the report public within the end of the month of Baishak,” he added.
In the past, rhino census was conducted in the years -- 1994, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2015. The last census showed that the number of one-horned rhino across the four national parks was 645.