The Ministry is beginning the count of the one-horn rhinoceros in collaboration with the Forest Department, and the National Park and Wildlife Reserve Department (NPWRD). For the enumeration, National Nature Conservation Trust and the World Wildlife Fund would provide financial and technical assistance.
It would take a month to complete the pachyderm count.
According to the NPWRD, the employees at the national park along with the experts will begin the enumeration of the rhinoceros early morning. Some 20 to 25 elephants would be used at one time to conduct the tracking and counting throughout the days. When the night falls, the counting is stopped, and begun from the very place next day.
"Long lines of elephants would be placed in the difference of one to two hundred meters to count the one-horns, it is Nepal's unique method of counting the pachyderm," said Maheshwor Dhakal, Spokesperson at the NPWRD.
This unique method propounded by Professor Prahlad Yonjan of the Tribhuvan University is applied on every four years' counting since 1994.
In addition to the knowledge of rhino population and its habits, the counting helps to know about many other wild animals and their condition.
The Chitwan National Park is the home to the one-horn rhinoceros in Nepal.
The endangered animal is estimated over 500 in the Chitwan National Park. Some pachyderms were translocated to the Bardiya National Park and the Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve later.
The latest rhino counting in 2011 had put the total number of this wildlife across the country at 534. There were 503 rhinos in Chitwan National Park, 24 in Bardiya National Park and seven in Shuklafanta Wildlife Reserve.
This time, the number of this animal is expected to go up as the number of baby rhinoceros at parks has increased and the country had observed the years 2011 and 2013 as the 'zero rhino poaching' years.
There is a possibility that Nepal this year too would once again get an opportunity to celebrate the 'zero rhino poaching year' if there were no cases of illegal killing of rhinoceros till the mid of this month.
Improvement in rhino habitats and a great success in its protection are behind the increase in the number of this giant wild animal. There were more than 99 rhinos in the country in 2011 compared to the year 2008. This time too, we are hopeful of recording an increased population of the pachyderm, National Nature Conservation Trust Officer Dr Naresh Subedi said. RSS
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