: A four-day-census to ascertain the number of rhinoceros in the forests of north Bengal will start from January 19, senior forest officials said on Saturday.
“While the census will be carried out at Gorumara National Park on January 19 and 20, the estimation exercise will be held at Jaldapara National Park on January 21 and 22,” V.K. Sood, Chief Conservator of Forest, North Bengal (Wild Life) told The Hindu .
According to Mr Sood, while Jaldapara National Park had recorded 186 rhinoceros in 2013, the Gorumara National Park had a population of about 50 rhinoceros in the census carried out in 2014.
Senior forest officials said that the idea of holding a census in the entire stretch of north Bengal is to come up with the exact number of rhinoceros in West Bengal.
Along with officials of the State forest department, volunteers from non-government organisations would participate in the census. The census exercise will estimate the number of one-horned rhinoceros on the basis of direct sightings.
Though there have been some reports of poaching of rhinoceros last year, forest officials said that the number of the animals has gone up.
“While three animals have died in the Gorumara National Park in the recent past, we have reports of at least three new births,” Sumita Ghatak, the Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Division II Jalpaiguri told The Hindu .
Similarly forest officials estimate that the number of rhinoceros in Jaldapara National Park has increased in the past two years.
According to officials, Jaldapara National Park has the second highest population of rhinoceros in India after Kaziranga National park in Assam, which recorded around 2,200 rhinoceros.
