The census has been initiated following complaints by the locals of poaching of the endangered Arna, and also a communication from the government to provide the exact number of the wild buffalo left in the reserve, Protection Officer, Nilamber Mishra said.
The Reserve has mobilized two 40-member teams to count the number of the animal that resembles the domestic buffalo. The census carried out in 2009 had showed the total count of Arna at 219.
The Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, which lies on the floodplains of the Sapta Koshi River in the south-eastern Tarai, was gazetted in 1976 to preserve habitat for the only remaining population of wild buffalo, Arna.
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