The Hindu : National : Rhino goes back home

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Friday, Jan 26, 2007
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National

National

Rhino goes back home

Sushanta Talukdar

Unusual translocation in Assam

Guwahati: In an unusual operation, a fully-grown adult female rhino that had strayed into Lakhimpur from the Kaziranga National Park was returned to the Park on Thursday, transporting it by truck over a distance 450 km.

It was set to be released into the Agoratoli Range on Republic Day after a thorough examination.

The operation was carried out by the Kaziranga-based Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), run jointly by the Wildlife Trust of India, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Department of Environment and Forest of Assam. Experts from the College of Veterinary Sciences, Guwahati, were called in too.

A wooden crate large and strong enough to hold the rhino was made with a grant from the Wildlife Trust of India. The tranquillisation team camped at Lakhimpur for three days. Director of the Kaziranga National Park D.M. Sing led the team at the rescue site at Diju Chapori in Lakhimpur.

The rhino was tranquillised and taken into the crate. The crate was lifted into the truck using a crane.

In December it had crossed the Brahmaputra, National Highway 31, other rivers and townships on the North bank of the Brahmaputra and reached Diju Chapori at the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh near Ranganodi river, about 16 km from Lakhimpur. By then it became disoriented and tried to enter human habitations.

Local people and non-governmental organisations alerted the Forest Department.

A few years ago, a rhino died at the hands of poachers deep inside Arunachal Pradesh after it entered the Papumpare Reserve Forest near Sijusa.

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