KOHORA, Jan 28 � With an aim to further enhance the gene pool of rhinos in wild at the Manas National Park, the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation under the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), has undertaken an initiative to shift two sub adult rhinos namely Gopal and Hari from its centre at Kaziranga in partnership with the IFAW.
Both the male rhinos Gopal and Hari, were said to be less than a month old when they were recovered on March 13 and August 21, 2009 in Baruntika and Haldhibari areas of Kaziranga respectively, after their mothers had abandoned them. According to Dr Rathin Barman, deputy director of WTI and the centre in-charge, these two rhinos would be kept at an electric enclosure for a period of one to one and a half years after reaching Manas and would be released in the wild depending upon the behavioural pattern of the species and other convenient factors.
It is worth mentioning that this process of shifting rhinos from the CWRC at Kaziranga is technically quite different from the IRV-2020 programme since there is a translocation of rhino species from complete wild to wild in the IRV programme, whereas under the WTI initiative the shifting is done from the rescue centre where the wild species are hand-reared and then shifted to other convenient locations after fulfilling certain internationally followed norms and protocol, said a wildlife expert.
Though 18 rhinos were translocated to the Manas National Park under the IRV-2020 programme, seven were killed by poachers. So security measures need to be heightened before Hari and Gopal are released in the wild after a certain period of time.
