MANAS NATIONAL PARK

About:

• Manas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a tiger reserve, had about 100 resident rhinos prior to 1990, but a prolonged ethno-political conflict thereafter took a heavy toll with extremist groups known to have traded the horns of the herbivores for weapons.
• A rhino reintroduction programme under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 was started in 2006.
• This entailed the translocation of rhinos from Kaziranga National Park and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary besides orphans hand-reared at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation at Kaziranga.
• The current rhino population in the Manas National park was estimated at 40 after the census on April 1 and 2.