A win for efforts to save rhinos

The Rhino Census 2022 has produced the welcome news of an increase in the rhinoceros population in the country. It showed the number of one-horned rhinos at 2,613, an increase of 200 over the last census in 2018, at the Kaziranga National Park, the country’s biggest rhino habitat. It is also good augury that there are 903 females against 750 males. The Orang National Park saw an increase from 24 to 125. The Pobitoro Wildlife Sanctuary and the Manas National Park have also seen higher numbers of the pachyderm. There were concerns over the well-being of the rhinos in Manas Park from where they had almost disappeared some years ago. But the reintroduction of the animals there under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 programme has yielded results. However similar efforts have not been encouraging in some other sanctuaries.

Much of the country’s rhino population is concentrated in Kaziranga, Pobitoro and Orang. The country can be happy that the rhinos, which were fast dwindling in numbers once, have been brought back from the brink. But while the increase in their population is a good thing, it presents new problems and challenges. Once the number of rhinos crossed 3,000, which was a target set by the India Rhino Vision programme, these issues had to be addressed seriously. The growth in rhino population has created pressures on space and food available to the animals. Many of them stray out of the protected areas, leading to man-animal conflict and accidental deaths. They also become vulnerable to poaching. There are also chances of inbreeding, which will impact the health of the progeny.

The obvious solution is the translocation of animals from crowded habitats to other places, but this has not worked well, except in Manas to some extent. Some translocated rhinos have died or been killed in Manas also. Half of them were reported to have fallen prey to poachers. The translocation process is very sensitive, and the safety, security and health of the animals were not properly monitored. There are issues relating to inadequate infrastructure and manpower in the new areas. The shrinking of habitats due to encroachment, degradation of the terrain and water bodies, threats to native flora from invasive weeds are other problems. Experts are of the view that facilities should be improved in areas now identified as suitable for translocation and at the same time there should be a search for new areas. It is also pointed out that established habitats have further room for expansion and corridors linking them can be set up. So, more efforts are needed to sustain the progress made till now.