Wild Rhinos go Back to the Wild

This rhino is now ready for soft release and another two female rhino calves, now two and half years old, will be moved to Manas National Park (a World Heritage site) at the end of January 2007.  

The state government under its “Rhino Vision 2020” - plans to double the rhino population in Assam, which is currently less than 2500 worldwide.

Militant Bodo tribal rebels set up training camps inside the dense Manas forest and destroyed most of the forest department’s infrastructure. Stability returned to the region in 2004 after the demarcation and declaration of a separate Bodoland Autonomous Council (BTC).

After 10 years of total neglect, normalcy has returned to the park. Wildlife Trust of India, IFAW’s partner in India, has a signed a MoU with BTC wherein the Council has assured total protection to the rhinos and elephants being moved to Manas for rehabilitation and release. 

Since all the rhinos under rehabilitation are females, permission has been sought from the Assam Forest Department and Government of India for capture and translocation of a male rhino from the over-populated Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, also in Assam, to the Manas National Park. This translocation program is scheduled to happen in April 2007.  This will be the first  ‘wild to wild’ rhino translocation program in Assam. The calves had been orphaned in the Kaziranga NP during the floods in the river Brahmaputra that annually devastate Assam.

The two rhino calves (both females) will initially be held in a separate enclosure for 15 to 20 days and subsequently allowed to join the four year old rhino in the boma that was moved to Manas last year.

Recently the two calves had to be separated in order to habituate them to two crates placed at different locations. They have already been habituated to the crate and it is only a matter of time before they are crated on January 29th.