Nepal to conduct rhino census in March 2020

KATHMANDU: The Department of National Parks and Wild life Conservation (DNPWC) is to conduct rhino census in March 2020.

The census, which was earlier said would be carried out in the last fiscal year, did not happen since the donor agencies did not provide the funding they had promised.

The DNPWC has allocated Rs 11 million for this purpose this time. According to the DNPWC, it would approach the donor agencies for any shortfall in budget for the census.

In Nepal, rhinos are mostly found in Parsa, Chitwan, Bardiya and Shuklaphanta national parks.

The census would be done in these national parks simultaneously, according to DNPWC deputy director-general Ram Chandra Kandel. He added that homework for the same has started.

According to him, the process of forming task forces has been initiated at the national parks under the coordination of the chief conservation officer of the concerned parks.

A budget of around Rs 15 million can be required for conducting the census. Kandel informed that the rhino count will take around one month in Chitwan national park. In other parks, it might take around a week to even 10 days.

As per the 2015 census, there were 645 rhinos – 605 in Chitwan National Park alone.