The rhino census, which was supposed to be conducted in 2081, has not started even though it was completed in 2082. The tiger census started last winter as per the schedule. But the date to start the stalled rhino census has not yet been set.

The rhino census usually starts in Chait and the results are made public within a month. The park department has informed that this time the rhino census will be conducted but not by the previous method. 

The largest number of one-horned rhinos in Nepal are found in Chitwan National Park and the surrounding forest areas. There are also a few rhinos in Parsa National Park, which is connected to Chitwan. Then there are rhinos in Bardiya National Park and Shuklaphanta Park. Due to the large number, the census starts from Chitwan. But this time, no official information has reached Chitwan National Park regarding the census. 

‘There have been discussions in the department on this issue. But no new information has been received at the field level regarding the start of the census,’ said Senior Conservation Officer Ganesh Pant, who is also the head of the Chitwan National Park Office.

Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Bed Kumar Dhakal said that the issue of rhino counting will be finalized within the next week. ‘The department is preparing to count rhinos this time. We will decide on the date and method by next Friday. The way the counting was done earlier, it will not be done this time,’ said Deputy Director General of the department Dhakal. Earlier, the park was divided into different blocks and enumerators sitting on elephants counted rhinos in one block at a time. They used to take the help of cameras, binoculars, and other equipment.

In the case of Chitwan, this time, the counting will be done using different methods in areas where rhinos are less common and rhino numbers are high, Dhakal said. ‘Rhinos are very few in the area from Sauraha to the east. The rhinos there are known by the post office staff. They are named by signs like the condition of their ears and the shape of their horns. In such places, the rhinos have been counted directly,’ said Dhakal.

Similarly, Dhakal said that the department has made a plan to determine the number of rhinos east of Sauraha, where the number of rhinos is high, through genetic identification. He said that for this, rhino dung will be collected and analyzed. “This method has been used in other countries to determine the number of various wildlife. We are also using it in Nepal,” he said.

The department has formed a technical committee for the rhino census. The committee has already held discussions two-three times. Dhakal said that the new method is being adopted because going to the forest to count rhinos on elephants is expensive and dangerous. Earlier, during the 2077 BS rhino census, an enumerator was seriously injured after being attacked by a wild male elephant ‘Dhruve’.

Enumerator Binod Shrestha, who suffered a deep injury to his waist, has still not been able to return to his previous condition. Therefore, there was a call for finding a safe method for the census. In the past, more than one crore rupees were spent for the rhino census. The department's spokesperson and deputy director general, Ved Kumar Dhakal, said that the cost of this census would also be reduced if the new method is adopted.

The rhino census that was supposed to be held in Chaitra 2076 could not be held due to the Corona pandemic. Then, the census was held on Chaitra 9, 2077 and the results were made public on Chaitra 28. According to the regular schedule, the rhino census should have been held last year. Usually, the census is held at an interval of five years. 

Last year, the rhino census, which was supposed to be based on the 'Jal Jungle' project run with the support of the US government, was stopped. USAID was involved in this. But after the USAID budget and program were stopped in accordance with the policy of US President Donald Trump, the rhino census was also suddenly stopped.

The government did not allocate any budget for the rhino census last year. According to Ram Chandra Kandel, the then director general of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, when I visited Chitwan and Sauraha last Bhadra, the government did not allocate any budget for the rhino census in 2081 BS. After that, we had to depend on the support of American organizations for the budget. 

‘The budget was not allocated. When I came to the department, I saw that there was no budget, and a census had to be conducted. So, the supporting partner organizations were requested. They were ready to cooperate,’ said the then Director General Kandel. Regular partners such as the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), WWF Nepal and ZSL always supported the rhino census.

‘But there was not enough budget. When we talked to the Jal Jungle Project, they also readily agreed. We got support that we could get more than the budget. But after some time of talking, the Jal Jungle Program was closed,’ he said. The project was providing equipment worth about 5 million rupees. Due to the lack of equipment, the rhino census that was supposed to start in 2081 BS was postponed.

Then, the census that was supposed to start within Chaitra 2082 BS has not been able to move forward even when 2083 BS began.

Direct rhino census in Nepal began in 1994. Then it was in 2000, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2015, and 2021. Since 1994, 446 rhinos have been found during direct censuses.