translated from Spanish: Nepal’s rhino population is increasing, what is it all about?

The wild rhinos of a single horn continue to be an endangered spike. However, there is good news as in Nepal, in four national parks located in the southern plains, the population of single-horned rhinos grew by more than 100 specimens over the past six years. The reason for their poaching is based on the high demand that rhino horns have in Asia, specifically in China and Vietnam. Although the rhino horn trade is prohibited and environmental experts have warned that safe horn extraction would continue to harm this species.
According to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Protection, in 2015 there were only 645 rhinos. Now, its population is 752.

“Increasing the population is exciting news. But the challenges persist, especially to increase the habitat areas of this animal, so that growth continues,” they explained. In order to assess the strategies applied for the conservation of rhinos, Nepal conducts a census every five years. The first was made in 1994 and 466 rhinos were counted.

The last census had to take place during 2020, but health crises postponed the participation of the 250 people in charge of touring the parks. The process was carried out over three weeks, with the help of elephants, the count was performed with cameras, binoculars and geolocation equipment. The local authorities were responsible for giving this announcement that provoked celebrations in all organizations dedicated to protecting the species that was reduced to only a hundred in 1960, due to the destruction of its habitat and the poaching house. And they announced at the same time that April 9 was 365 days without a single rhino being killed by poachers in the Himalayan country. It is the fifth time Nepal has achieved this success in the face of species trafficking since 2011. Why this exponential growth? One hypothesis to explain this phenomenon is the pandemic by Covid-19, the authorities believe that restrictions and border closure was one of the decisive reasons for rhinos to have more freedom. Deepak Kumar Kharal assured the Wall Street Journal that the virus played an important role in helping population growth.

Original source in Spanish