Chitwan National Park Records Two Consecutive Zero Poaching Years

Chitwan National Park has recorded zero poaching of one-horned rhinos for straight two years. There has not been any poaching of the endangered animal since May 3, 2014, according to the press statement released by the park on Monday, which marked two consecutive years without the poaching of rhinos.

The poaching of Rhinos had reached to a maximum of 37 per year. “But now we have managed to turn the situation around. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without increased cooperation from local communities and regular patrolling using advanced surveillance technologies,” said Narendra Adhikari, information officer at the CNP.

Nepalese Army has been providing tight security inside and outside the premises of the national park to prevent poaching. The NA has started ‘Smart Patrolling’ using apps installed in the mobile phone of the patrollers. This enables real-time updates about the situation and has been very helpful in bringing down poaching incidents. The park has also mobilized trained dogs to arrest poachers. Patrolling are done on foot, by jeep, cycle and motorcycles.

As many as 37 rhinos were lost to poaching during the fiscal year of 2011. At that time, there were only eight surveillance posts. High stakes criminals, who do business on rhino horns, as well as skilled poachers, have been caught in recent raids.

Rajkumar Chepang, who had fled the country after killing 22 rhinos in two years, has also been caught from Malaysia with the help of Interpol. According to the press release, 255 poachers have been caught in the last six years.There are 645 rhinos in Nepal, 605 of them in Chitwan. Apart from Nepal, one horned rhinos are found in India, while two horned rhinos are found in Africa. “We will not rest and relentlessly continue working on improving our mechanisms,” added Adhikari, CNP’s information officer.