Nepal has suspended a census of the country’s endangered one-horned rhinoceros population after an elephant driver involved in the count was attacked and killed by a tiger.
The mahout, named as Policeram Tharu, 31, was cutting grass to feed the elephant when the Bengal tiger struck in Bardiya National Park in western Nepal. Officials said it was the tenth fatal attack in the park in recent months, as a spike in tigers entering the area from adjoining forests has left locals terrorised.
Usually conducted every five years, Nepal’s rhino census was postponed in 2020 by the pandemic, but got under way last month. The count had already been halted last week when a wild elephant charged at park rangers carrying out the census, injuring several. Tharu’s death, the first recorded fatality during the census, has halted the event again.
Elephants are used to help search for the greater one-horned rhino, which ranges through Nepal’s protected parks, plains and forests. The animal has inched its way back from the brink of extinction in recent years but remains threatened by poaching and the disappearance of its habitat. Though much smaller than those of African rhinos, their horns fetch huge sums on the black market. Just over 2,500 are left alive, with about 650 living in Nepal, according to the last census.
Park officials said the mahouts had been setting up camp for the night when the tiger attacked. “Once the daily counting of rhinos is completed, elephants are rested. Mahouts usually collect grass during this time or they take their elephants out for grazing,” Bishnu Prasad Shrestha, head of conservation for the park, told local media. “Tharu was attacked while he was cutting grass for his elephant.”
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Officials said the tiger had been caught, and would be shipped to a zoo, but that the attack was likely to delay the results of the census amid fears of further attacks on the team of 60 rangers and wildlife experts tracking the rhinos. Locals around Bardiya have reported scores of tiger attacks on villagers and livestock over recent months. All tourism in the area has been suspended.
“Tiger numbers in Bardiya National Park have increased lately. This could be one of the reasons behind increasing tiger attacks . . . everyone should be alert and follow precautions while being around and inside the park,” Haribhadra Acharya, a spokesperson for the Nepali government’s wildlife conservation department, said.
