Bihar: Efforts on to reintroduce rhinos in Valmiki Tiger Reserve

The process of the reintroduction of rhinos in VTR will start on the basis of recommendations of the task force, Bihar’s chief wildlife warden PK Gupta said

The Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) in Bihar will very soon be known not only as a habitat of big cats, but also for its population of the one-horned rhinoceros.

One-horned rhinoceros. (AP Photo)

The department of forests, environment and climate change in Bihar also plans to constitute a ‘Rhino Task Force’ to deliberate on how to increase rhino population at the VTR.

The Valmikinagar forests in West Champaran district of the state once used to have a good population of rhinos but have only one rhino at present, while there are 14 at the Patna zoo.

“We are making efforts to bring back rhinos to the VTR. The reserve has already been selected as the potential site for the reintroduction of rhinos as a part of the National Rhino Conservation Strategy planned nearly two years ago,” PK Gupta, chief wildlife warden, department of forests, environment and climate change, said.

A committee was set up to assess the habitat and security conditions at the VTR and also to suggest measures for the reintroduction of rhinos in the reserve, he added.

“This committee has recently submitted its report to the Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (DEFCC). It has recommended that rhinos from any other reserve in the country can be brought to the VTR. We now have to constitute a ‘Rhino Task Force’ to suggest measures for the reintroduction of rhinos in the VTR,” he said.

The process of the reintroduction of rhinos in VTR will start on the basis of recommendations of the task force, he added.

“We are planning to increase the rhino-bearing areas at the VTR by 5% in the next two years,” he said.

India has around 75% of total population of one-horned rhinos in the world. Importantly more than 93% of the Indian rhino population is concentrated in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, he informed.

According to the plan, rhinos will be taken out of the crowded habitats and shifted to identified areas in the VTR. This plan has been intended to provide more space for the rhinos to breed.

Gupta said some areas such as Ganauli and Madanpur in VTR have already been identified as the potential locations for the reintroduction scheme.

VTR, the only tiger reserve of the state at present, has a core area of 909.86sqkm of the total area of the Valmiki Sanctuary in West Champaran.

The reserve was established as the 18th tiger reserve of India in 1990 and is ranked fourth in the density of the tiger population. Recently, it recorded a 75% increase in its tiger population, from 31 in 2018 to 54 in 2022.