Three rhino calves – two females and a male- that were rescued during the 2019 floods will go a step closer to the wild this Saturday in Manas National Park.
The baby rhinos were rescued by the officials of the Assam Forest department and the IFAW- WTI vets in 2019 and were kept at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Kaziranga National Park.
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They have undergone a protocol of rehabilitation for two years before their translocation to Manas National Park following the IFAW- WTI commitment of “Bringing Back Manas”.
Two females were rescued from Hatimura (Biswanath- North Bank) and Kuthuri area while the male was rescued from Solmara during the Kaziranga floods that hit in July-August in 2019.
The trio had undergone health check-ups and marking before they are loaded in individual crates for the translocation by the expert team of IFAW-WTI veterinarians led by Head vet Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury.
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The convoy is expected to reach Manas National Park in the early hours of Saturday, for the scheduled release of the animals in their dedicated boma.
They will be kept for a stipulated period for habituation before their final release in the wilderness of the reserve.
“Three Rhinos calves including two females and 1 male, rescued outside Kaziranga National Park during high flood of 2019 and looked after at Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) under Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve will be translocated to Manas Tiger Reserve on 9th April and released back to the wild,” said P Sivakumar, Director, Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.
“It is the right time to release, as the calves will be developing horns. The intra-state Rhino translocation will help in improving the gene pool and give respite from any epidemics in the future,” he said.
Under our commitment to bring back Manas, AFD-WTI-IFAW along with BTR, have augmented Manas with 19 rhinos including offspring of the released rhinos, born in the wilderness of Manas Tiger Reserve since 2006, out of the total population of 44 rhinos (Rhino Estimation 2021).