31 May
2006 - Kathmandu, Nepal – Recent field visits
to remote areas of Nepal’s Bardia National Park
have revealed a decline in rhino and tiger populations,
indicating widespread poaching.
Field visits by WWF Nepal and
park staff to sites inside the Bardia National
Park – which have only become accessible since
the ceasefire between Maoist insurgents and government
troops came into force in late April – found evidence
of three rhinos in the area, despite the translocation
of more than 70 to the area since 1986.
“Given the probable growth rate
over a period of 12 years, there should have been
more than 100 rhinos in this area,” said WWF Nepal
research officer Kanchan Thapa, who was part of
the survey team. “This would be a viable population.”
In the late 1960s there were
less than 100 one-horned rhinos left in all of
Nepal. Thanks to conservation projects developed
by WWF, Nepal’s national parks and wildlife authorities
and others, the country is home to over 600 rhinos.
Despite conservation efforts,
poaching remains a major problem. During the rhino
survey, the team apprehended two armed poachers.
Weapons and a large cache of ammunition were also
seized along with more than 300kg of smoked sambar
deer, spotted deer, barking deer, and four-horned
antelope — all important prey species of the tiger
and other carnivores.
The survey team also confirmed
the presence of three tigers in the Babai Valley,
down from an estimate of 13 in 2001.
In the past month, a Nepalese
anti-poaching team in Chitwan National Park apprehended
a group of six poachers with a tiger pelt and
there were news reports of Maoists confiscating
a tiger pelt from traders in the Parsa Wildlife
Reserve.
“This is clearly a very disturbing
situation, and one that needs urgent action,”
said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International's
Global Species Programme.
“But the good news is that the
habitat in these areas is still largely intact.
So if strong protection measures are put in place
immediately, we are hopeful that the chances for
species recovery are good.”
Since the survey, Nepal’s Department
of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, with
support from WWF Nepal, has already initiated
a number of immediate actions, including more
regular patrols in area. Community-based anti-poaching
operations are also being mobilized.
