The census of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros started in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, said forest officials on Saturday.
The last rhino census was held three years ago in 2018 and since then as many as 400 rhinos died as devastating floods swept Assam.
Ramesh Gogoi, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve informed that it was the 14th rhino census at Kaziranga National Park.
“The enumerators and observers have already moved to their respective places. They will submit their counting reports to us today evening. We will make placement for the enumerators and observers for tomorrow also. We have identified 76 blocks and invited 60 enumerators and observers for this census and most of them have participated in the census,” Gogoi said.
The periodic count is said to continue till March 28. The national park will remain closed for visitors between March 26 and March 28 due to the census.
While morning elephant safari rides have been suspended from March 26 to 28, jeep safaris rides have been continued in a phased manner so as not to hamper the rhino census.
The census has been conducted in 48 compartments within the premises of the national park.
As per the data released by the Assam Forest Department in 2018, the national park had 1,641 rhinos, of which 793 are females, 642 are males and 206 rhinos’ gender could not be ascertained.
At Assam's Manas National Park, the rhino census will begin from April 1 till April 3. As a result, tourists will not be allowed to the National park for three days.
A total of 48 rhinos were reported according to the last census in the Manas National Park.
Earlier, the globally renowned Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve received a record-breaking visitors count of over two lakhs which was the highest in the last 12 years.
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