In just over 5 years the population of rhinos in Nepal increased by 102 specimens. The confirmation comes from the national census that took place in recent days in the area of the Asian country, which includes the national parks of Chitwan, Parsa, Bardia and Shuklaphanta, as well as some other protected areas. The heads surveyed were 645 in 2015, they result 752 today. This is excellent news because the rhinoceros is an iconic species but unfortunately highly endangered in nature: they have disappeared from most of the forests and grasslands in which they lived and today tend to survive in isolated nuclei. They were decimated by the poaching and the progressive reduction of their habitats, the latter effect of the expansion of human activities (agricultural activities, deforestation, expansion of urban centers). The growth in the number of specimens, albeit in a limited area of the planet, is a good omen because it confirms that the situation of decline can also be reversed, at least for the still existing subfamilies.
Asian rhinos are divided into three different species: that indiana, the one of Java and that of Sumatra: the first classified as vulnerable in red list International Union for Conservation of Nature (Iucn), the other two are instead in critical danger. The small Nepalese miracle is the result of a series of protection interventions that have also seen the WWF as the protagonist, which has worked to move specimens from places that are too dangerous to areas that were excessively emptied, always as a result of human action. But the same human action made it possible to rewrite a history that seemed already written. The overall growth of the rhino population in Nepal – he explains Ghana Gurung, spokesperson for the local WWF – the result of ongoing conservation activities and habitat management efforts by protected areas, despite the difficult contexts of recent years. Gurung recognizes that the result was possible, as always in these cases, thanks to a joint effort of organizations and institutions: in short, if governments do their part, nature can be helped.
Much remains to be done, in Asia as in Africa, and the enemy to fight and defeat widespread poaching. It is not just a question of stopping the killing by hunters who move from all parts of the world in search of trophies, but of curbing the thriving business linked to the marketing of the body parts of these majestic animals, particularly in demand for production. of remedies and pseudopharmaceuticals used by traditional Chinese medicine or as simple status symbol objects. The horn alone, remember Isabella Pratesi, Conservation Director of WWF Italia, can be resold on the black market at prices that exceed those of gold and platinum, reaching up to 66 thousand dollars per kilo. For this reason, poachers do not stop easily and often go to procure the precious material in nature reserves. This is why Pratesi speaks of the moving engagement of rangers in African and Asian parks, real bodyguards who have to face armed assaults by dangerous men.
The Nepalese census – the country has pledged to carry it out every 5 years, precisely to monitor the demographic trend of the species and evaluate the effectiveness of protection interventions – took place from March 22 to April 10 and was led by the Department for National Parks and Wildlife Conservation of the Government of Nepal, mobilizing 350 technicians, various staff and over 57 elephants. Population estimates – reads a note – are based on information collected on individual rhinos, grouped on the basis of sex, age and characteristics for the identification of individuals. During the count, data on habitat conditions, invasive species in the area and human activities in the region were also collected.
April 15, 2021 (change April 15, 2021 | 19:22)
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