A one-horned rhino which was rescued from Balmiki Tiger Reserve in India, and brought to the Chitwan National Park (CNP) on Thursday, has been released into the CNP Friday. The female rhino of about 15 years of age, which was swept away from the CNP in a flooding four months ago, was spotted at the Reserve, around 20-km east from the Nepal-India border, some days earlier.
The rhino was freed in the presence of Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation Yubak Dhoj G.C., Director General of the Department of the National Parks and Wild Conservation Man Bahadur Khadka, and member-secretary of the National Trust for Nature Conservation Gobinda Gajurel, among others. Manpower (approximately 70 persons) was employed, and four tamed elephants were used to capture the rhino.
The CNP's assistant conservation officer Abhinaya Pathak said that they had been informed that another rhino which was washed away from the CNP in the flooding was spotted in an Indian place around 60-km away from the border.
A CNP team is heading toward that site Friday to take stock of the rhino, he added.
