Although it was stopped last year due to lack of budget, this year the government is going to count rhinos. In addition, the government is also under pressure to count the tigers this year. Director General of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department Ramchandra Kandel informed that both rhino and tiger will be counted this year.

The tiger count will start in winter. Rhinoceros counting starts around March. Director General Kandel said that the government has allocated a budget for both works.

Rhino counting work was stopped last year due to the 'Jal Jungle' project run with the support of the US government. The 'Jal Jungle' project, run with the support of USAID, was assisting in the rhinoceros census. But according to the policy of the American President Donald Trump, after the USAID budget and programs were stopped, the rhino count of Nepal was also suddenly postponed.

Last year, the government did not allocate a budget for rhino counting. Last year, the bimistake budget was not allocated for the calculation. When I come to the department, I see that there is no budget, it has to be calculated. Therefore, the supporting partner organizations are ready to help," said Director General Kandel. Regular partners such as National Nature Conservation Fund (NTNC), WWF Nepal and ZSL were always supportive.

'Regular partner organizations were helping but some budget was not enough. Talking to the Jal Jungle Project, they also readily prepared. If we had equipment rather than budget, we got support. But shortly after talking, the Jal Jungle program was stopped," Kandel said. The project was providing equipment worth around 5 million rupees. As there was no equipment, the calculation was postponed.

Director General Kandel said that this year the government has allocated a budget of Rs 20 lakh for rhino census and Rs 20 lakh for tiger census. But more budget is needed for calculation. He informed that two crore rupees will be spent for tiger enumeration and around 15 million rupees for rhino enumeration. "Apart from the government budget, we raise other expenses from partners," he said.

Director General Kandel said that the tiger count will be counted between November-December ie November-Pustir and the rhinoceros count between March-April ie February-April. Tigers and rhinos are counted in Parsa, Chitwan, Banke, Bardia and Shuklaphanta National Parks. There are also tourist activities in tiger/rhinoceros parks. Chitwan Park is one of the best revenue generating parks. Chitwan had an income of 33 crore rupees in the last financial year. 

But the government has been allocating a very small budget for the tiger rhino count. The rhino count was postponed last year when the budget was not allocated and the donor was dependent on seeking the help of other partners. The department thinks that tigers and rhinos are part of the park's management, and the chief of Chitwan Park, said that the number of tigers has increased and the reason for that When counting, we also map the status of tigers and rhinoceroses, he said. Based on this, the count of tigers and rhinoceroses is usually done every four years A live count has been started in 2005, 2015, and now in 2026. The number of tigers has been estimated by installing automatic cameras in 2009, 2013 and now Or anything else, the camera will take a picture of the tiger's body. Every one of the photos taken by the camera will be analyzed by the computer. In the previous tiger count, about 200 people were employed Kandel says that it takes a long time to take photos and announce the results from the software. The results of the tiger count, which started on November 19, 2079, will be announced soon. The enumerators use binoculars to take photos. These are the main materials used in the rhinoceros count. In the past, 40/50 rhinoceros were counted in the past.

There were 544 rhinos in 2000, 372 in 2008, 503 in 2015 and 752 in 2021. In the year 2021, 694 rhinos were found in Bardia and 3 in Parsa.

In the year 2009, 121 tigers were found across the country, 235 in 2018, and 355 tigers in Chitwan Park and its surrounding areas It has been 31 years since the start of rhino counting. It has been 16 years since the number of rhinos has been systematically counted. It has been estimated that there are around 800 rhinos in Nepal, he said.   By 2022, Nepal had announced to double the number of tigers in the world. In 2010, the government and the heads of state had made a commitment to increase the number of tigers to around 250 in Nepal Such an achievement was made in the field of conservation,'' said the head of the Chitwan Park. He said that the park also plans to protect the community and the agricultural area based on the impact on the wildlife.