A boy targeted by a tiger

Rhinos and tigers are rare wild animals in the world. It seems that the child of a rare creature is the prey of another rare creature. If there is a solution, the baby rhinoceros should be saved from the tiger, said Chairman Shrestha. So he also met the head of the park and talked. He thinks that if the grasslands in the forest were good, tigers would not have killed baby rhinos.

It is difficult to save a child if the rhinoceros does not eat where there are trees and bushes. "If there is an open grassy field, the tiger will chase after it as soon as the tiger comes, and the child will be saved," said Chairman Shrestha. He said that although the forest committee has the budget and tools for grassland management, they are still waiting for the approval of the park.

This is not a new incident of a tiger attacking a baby rhino . The Baghmara Intermediate Community Forest of Sauraha is a good rhinoceros habitat. Jitu Tamang, chairman of the forest committee, says that Maui rhinos with babies live in this forest. Recently, there are 6 Maui rhinos walking with children. A tiger has attacked a baby rhinoceros in this forest too . After being rescued and treated, the child who was attacked survived fortunately . On June 1, 2080, a 15/20-day-old male rhinoceros was found attacked by a tiger in Baghmara forest. "According to what I heard and know, this is the first case of a baby rhinoceros being attacked by a tiger in Baghmara," said President Tamang. This injured child survived due to immediate rescue and treatment.

This baby being cared for at the National Nature Conservation Fund of Sauraha has been named 'Ram'. Ram's other two friends are also there . The story of all these is the same. They were rescued and treated as they were injured in the tiger attack and after recovery, they are found roaming around the treasury office.

A 15/20-day-old male rhinoceros was found in the forest near Batulipokhari, Bharatpur, Devnagar, on 30th June 2080, a month before the rescue of Ram. It was also attacked and injured by a tiger. The baby rhinoceros that was found in Devanagar and recovered after treatment was called 'Dev'. Before 'Ram' and 'Dev' there was another baby rhinoceros. On November 17, 2079, a three-month-old female rhino was found injured by a tiger near Sauraha Raptighat.
A herd of chital rhinos grazing under cover in the Baghmara Central Community Forest and a baby rhino in cover . Chital is the tiger's main food. Tigers have also killed baby rhinos. Photo: Ramesh Kumar Paudel/Kantipur.

It was cured by treatment and got the name 'Pooja'. Despite being attacked by a tiger, 'Pooja', 'Ram' and 'Dev', who were rescued and recovered after treatment, are rejoicing in Sauraha . Even though they were rescued, they could not be rescued and there are also cases of those who died without being rescued . According to Conservation Officer Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, who is the information officer of Chitwan Park, four baby rhinos died in the last fiscal year when tigers attacked them. Before that, seven baby rhinos were killed by a tiger.

In the nine years from 072/73 to 080/81 financial year, 247 rhinos have died in Chitwan Park and its surroundings due to various reasons. The information provided by the park office mentions that the number of rhinoceros cubs that died after being attacked by tigers is 16. Ramkumar Aryal, a conservationist from Chitwan who has retired as the head of the Sauraha office of the National Nature Conservation Fund, narrates the experience of a pregnant rhinoceros going out to the outer forest instead of staying in the park to protect the baby from the tiger.

'As there is a dense forest inside the park, the Maui rhinoceros goes out to the forest outside the park to protect the child from the attack of tigers . In the forest outside, there was also a chattering. Human activity was more. A tiger does not live in a place where there are many people. Such forests are suitable for raising children for rhinos, said Aryal. But now the forest around the park is getting denser.

Jitu Tamang, chairman of the forest, said that there are not many tigers in the Baghmara forest, which has human settlements on three sides, and there are many other wild animals. That is why pregnant and giving birth rhinoceros are found in this forest, he said. But now, even though the rhinoceros has come out of the park to protect the baby, as the forest outside is also covered with plants, tigers have started living in that forest too . Such forest boys are not as safe as before. As the tiger grows, what is its effect? How has the tiger's habitat expanded or contracted? It seems that it is necessary to study the effect of this on other species and bring a park management policy accordingly, said Aryal. A baby rhino stays with its mother for three years . The risk of being attacked by tigers is high for the first year. Even a crocodile kills a baby rhinoceros .

Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, Conservation Officer of Chitwan National Park, is of the opinion that the matter of a baby rhino being attacked by a tiger should not be taken as a problem. The main food of the tiger is chital, zarayo, laguna and gaur of deer species . Supplementary diets include boars and young animals.

'So this is a natural activity in the forest . Sometimes even the baby rhinoceros becomes the food of the tiger,' said Tiwari. Naresh Subedi, a rhino expert, also says that the issue of attacks by tigers on baby rhinos is not alarming. Subedi, who has a PhD in rhinoceros, is currently the member secretary of the National Nature Conservation Fund.

'When I studied, it was found that 15 percent of the born rhinos were attacked by tigers, it may have increased a bit now . But there is no big problem because of this," he said. It has been 51 years since the establishment of Chitwan Park. Community forests have been developed for 30 years. Now the park and the intermediate community forest around it have become the same.

'A little weaker than the park, a less dense forest where animals grazed four-legged, people used to chop grass, rhinos also came to protect children in those forests . Now parks and other forests are equal. How to protect baby rhinoceros at such a time? It seems that it is necessary to pay attention to it,' says conservationist Ramkumar Aryal.