The first rhino that was reintroduced to the Manas National Park in 2006 — after the park lost all its rhino population during the heights of Bodo insurgency by early 1990s — has given birth to a healthy calf.
This cheering news came to the light on Sunday after forest officials sighted the mother and the newborn calf near Rupahi camp under the Bhuyapara forest range inside the famous national park.
The mother, named Mainao (meaning lakshmi in Bodo language) was rescued from the floods in Kaziranga in 2002 and hand-raised by the officials of the Assam Forest Department and International Fund for Animal Welfare —Wildlife Trust of India
(IFAD-WTI) at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near the Kaziranga National Park.
“Mainao was moved to the Manas National Park from CWRC in 2006 after we have launched the rhino reintroduction programme. The news that she had given birth is an encouraging one for us as it implies that the conservation efforts have been proving to be successful,” said a senior official of the Assam Forest department.
“Mainao was the first ever rhino to be hand-reared and rehabilitated in the country, proving that ‘back-to-the-wild’ was a feasible alternative for such displaced rhino calves. History has been made again, as she has given that one proof everyone waits for as a successful culmination to a rehabilitation effort,” said Vivek Menon, Executive Director of the WTI.
“Both the mother and the calf are kept under monitoring,” said a senior official deployed in the park.
It may be mentioned here that the Manas National Park, located about 170 km away from Assam capital Dispur, was first declared a World Heritage Site in 1985 by the Unesco. The international body, however, declared it as a World Heritage Site in Danger in 1992 due to rampant poaching and terrorist activities.
It is on 2011 that the park regained its World Heritage Site status and the Unesco removed it from the list of World Heritage in Danger.
According to the rhino census conducted last year, there were a total of 2,505 rhinos in Assam — including 22 rhinos in the Manas National Park. However, the major concentration of rhino was in Kaziranga with a count of 2,290 rhinos followed by 93 rhinos in Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district and another 100 rhinos in the Rajiv Gandhi National Park at Orang in Darrang district.