Animal lovers in Nepal are celebrating the first rhino calf to be born in the Bardia National Park since poaching was stopped almost two years ago.
 
Conservationists riding on elephants spotted the greater one-horned rhino calf with its mother during a patrol of the park.Anti-poaching and monitoring patrols are carried out routinely to help protect the vulnerable animals.

 

Funds and expert advice are provided by London Zoo and the Darwin Initiative. Nepal's rhino population has been badly depleted through poaching, with the situation worsening because of the civil war. There are less than 450 rhinos left in the Bardia and Chitwan National Parks, and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve. The birth of calves is a welcome sign the patrols are bringing much-needed stability to the country's rhino population, experts say.

 

"With so few rhino left in Nepal, every new calf is crucial to securing the long-term survival of the species," said Rajan Amin, senior field conservation biologist at ZSL.

 

"The rhino also act as an umbrella species for the grassland ecosystem; by conserving them, we're protecting the whole ecosystem which services other species - including ourselves."

 

The patrol teams have also seen success in Chitwan National Park, where a female calf was recently rescued after being separated from its mother during the monsoon.

The two-foot high animal was found marooned on a dead tree in the middle of the Narayani River with a broken leg.

 

It was taken back to the Park HQ in Kasara where she is currently being treated.

 

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