Poachers Empty Nepalese National Park of Tigers, Rhinos

KATHMANDU, Nepal, June 1, 2006 (ENS) - During the past two years of armed conflict, most of the endangered tigers and rhinos have disappeared from a national park in Nepal that was created to protect them, conservationists and park staff report. The first field trip since a ceasefire between Maoist insurgents and government troops took effect in late April found few animals compared to previous counts, as well as evidence of poaching.

The assessment of Nepal’s Royal Bardia National Park was conducted May 21 through 24 by a 40 member team on elephant back. The team included park staff and personnel from IUCN-the World Conservation Union, and the global conservation organization WWF.

The survey team confirmed the presence of just three tigers in the park's Babai Valley, down from an estimate of 13 tigers in 2001.

The team found evidence of three rhinos in the Babai Valley, despite the translocation of more than 70 animals to the area since 1986.

Team on elephant back surveys Bardia National Park for the first time in two years. May 2006. (Photo courtesy WWF Nepal)

The team said the loss of animals is due to poachers who took advantage of the absence of antipoaching patrols in the critical rhino and tiger habitat, which was under the control of Maoist insurgents.

The survey team apprehended two poachers armed with locally made muzzle guns.

Four weapons and a large cache of ammunition were seized along with more than 660 pounds of smoked Sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, and four-horned antelope - all important prey species for tigers and other carnivores.

Virtually all the guard posts inside the Babai Valley were found to be destroyed by the Maoists.

"It became too dangerous to send staff to that area in 2004 when Maoist insurgents detained and assaulted four members of a rhino monitoring team. The recent ceasefire between the government of Nepal and the Maoists allowed us to enter the area and conduct a study of the wildlife for first time in two years," said Mingma Sherpa, director of the Eastern Himalayas Program at WWF.

"The results are discouraging," said Sherpa, "but WWF will take advantage of a new climate of peace to revisit and revamp strategies for antipoaching operations, forge new partnerships, and translate commitments into action."

A tranquilized rhino is prepared for transport to its new home in Royal Bardia National Park (Photo by Lee Poston courtesy WWF)

Greater one-horned rhinos were translocated to Bardia from Royal Chitwan National Park in 1986, 1991, and 1999.

Other evidence of poaching was found in May by a Nepalese anti-poaching team in Chitwan National Park who apprehended a group of six poachers with a tiger pelt.

Based on these recent developments, WWF immediately conducted emergency meetings with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and the Nepal Army, who committed to conducting regular anti-poaching patrols in Bardia National Park before the monsoon rains begin.

But the annual summer rains have already begun in India, a week earlier than expected, and there may be little time to conduct patrols before the torrential rains arrive in Nepal's Terai region.

Still, one new anti-poaching post will be established inside of Bardia National Park as soon as possible, while arrangements are being made to create new anti-poaching posts around the entire Babai Valley, WWF said today. Community-based anti-poaching operations are also being mobilized.

Tiger caught in a camera trap in Nepal's Terai region in 2004. (Photo courtesy WWF Nepal)

In the late 1960s there were fewer than 100 one-horned rhinos left in all of Nepal. Due to conservation projects developed by WWF, Nepal’s national parks and wildlife authorities and others, the country now is inhabited by over 600 rhinos.

While recognizing the gravity of the situation in Bardia National Park, Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of WWF International's Global Species Program, was able to look on the bright side of the situation.

“The good news is that the habitat in these areas is still largely intact," she said. "So if strong protection measures are put in place immediately, we are hopeful that the chances for species recovery are good.”