India’s Kaziranga National Park holds more than half of the world’s greater one-horned rhinos, making it a key habitat for this species. ©Toby Sinclair
On the flood plains of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India, lies Kaziranga National Park, one of the last areas in the eastern part of the country to be undisturbed by human presence. Here, the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros unicornis)—along with bears, elephants, panthers, highly endangered swamp deer, tigers, more than 50 percent of the world’s wild water buffalo and thousands of birds—live.
On March 26, 2013, Kaziranga let the world in on some good news. Its rhino population grew. In 1999, the World Heritage site of Kaziranga had 1,672 rhinos. In 2009, that number had increased to 2,048. The latest census, concluded at the end of March, found 2,329 individuals.
There is a darker side to this success story, however. Last year, more than 20 rhinos were poached in Kaziranga. And after only the first three months of 2013, the number of poached rhinos is already at 16.
Along with the iconic greater one-horned rhinoceros, the 166-square-mile Kaziranga National Park is a breeding ground for elephants, swamp deer and wild water buffalo. The park was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006 and is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.
That sad fact is causing some to ask: could concentrating most of the planet’s remaining one-horned rhinos in one park actually be helping poachers?
A single fortress
Kaziranga is one of the world’s best-protected wildlife preserves. When it comes to poachers, rangers here follow shoot-to-kill orders, and drones and satellite surveillance stand at the ready to track harmful intruders. Still, poachers are laying siege to what they call “Fortress Kaziranga,” managing to sheer off the rhinoceroses’ horns to supply a Chinese surge in demand for the purported “medicine” that’s more valuable than gold. At least 20 rhinos fell to poachers in and around the park in 2012, compared to 10 in all of India in 2011.
The one-horned rhinoceroses in Kaziranga National Park represent 60 percent of the world’s entire population of the animals. Some argue that that’s a dangerously high percentage to have living in one known area. Should a natural disaster, such as a flood, or disease rampage through the park, the animals’ numbers could drop below the point at which they would be sustainable. And being able to pinpoint the location of the largest group of remaining wild one-horned rhinos makes finding them easy for poachers.
Yellowstone bison are descendants of the few that survived the 19th-century slaughter. ©Eric Rock
Multiple populations
In the United States, a similar scenario is being played out with American bison (Bison bison). Inside Yellowstone National Park are 4,000 or so of the animals, which are descendants of the handful who survived the 19th-century slaughter and the only bison in the country that are considered genetically pure.
For a long time, conservationists worried that if something should befall the Yellowstone bison population, the species would be lost. One solution was to repatriate some of Yellowstone’s wild bison to the plains, in order to create several, separate “pockets” of the animals. In 2010, billionaire Ted Turner received 80 Yellowstone bison on his Montana ranch, the first to be located outside of the park. Last year, 64 bison were moved to the Fort Peck Reservation with the help of the tribes, environmental groups, and federal and state agencies. Some conservationists would eventually like to see several herds of bison resuming their ancient ecological role on our Western prairies.
The animals were not moved without controversy, however. Bison opponents went to court and received an injunction to prevent further transfers. Environmental groups appealed the injunction to the Montana Supreme Court, and it will be heard next month. If it is lifted, bison will be loaded on trucks and taken out of Yellowstone to new homes around the state.
In Africa and elsewhere, rhinos are being relocated to help ensure their survival. ©Toby Sinclair
Luckily, Kaziranga, too, seems to be working on establishing another herd of rhinos. A few of the animals were relocated to Manas National Park in the Himalayan foothills, also in Assam. Dispersal might be their only hedge against the continued attacks of poachers.
Do you think that concentrating the last members of a species into a protected preserve is the best way to save them, or does spreading them out into several populations in the wild afford them a better chance for survival?
Here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,
Candy
Natural Habitat Adventures’ India wildlife trip will take you to Kaziranga National Park in Assam for an opportunity to see one-horned rhinos. For an extraordinary bison encounter, choose from one of our many Yellowstone safaris.
Translocating rhinos has been a successful way to replenish rhino numbers in various parts of the subcontinent.
One key solution to the poacher problem is to work with villagers located near the wildlife preserves to strengthen their economic and social conditions via “stake holder” perspective as is now widely know. I have discussed this topic at my “Rescue Me Oh Humanity” Board at Pinterest.com
Concentration of the last animals of an endangered species is a real risk, it was demonstrated in the 90’s, when a bloom of toxic algae (red tide) killed 2/3 of the last viable colony (at least 50 % of the whole world population) of Mediterranean Monk Seal in Mauritania. The problem is that translocating rhinos to other areas will imply to spend a lot of money to create new fortresses, as secure as Kaziranga, international cooperation would be needed.
Chinese traditional “medicine” threats many species, is really difficult to protect animals when one of them supposes for a poacher more than the money he can earn in years of honest work. I think it’s urgent to do something with the sorce of the problem, the people of China, trying to change superstition into real, scientific medicine.
Wonderfully written piece! Gives us an opportunity to look at the poaching situation from a different angle.
“Do you think that concentrating the last members of a species into a protected preserve is the best way to save them, or does spreading them out into several populations in the wild afford them a better chance for survival?”
It’s very difficult to say. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need to worry about it because animals would freely go wherever they wanted without being in danger of being killed by humans. In our, far from perfect, world it’s probably better to have them in few different places to ensure their survival.
I also think that Chinese people need a lot of education to learn that killing rhinos will not help their health. If they read The China study they would start looking more into their diet to improve their health. As the study shown the counties with lowest animal product consumption had the lowest percentage of western countries diseases: diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, etc.
Undoubtedly prevention of poaching of Rhinos a big challenge. Assam has the tradition of dealing the poachers effectively. Government also provides requisite support.
Process to relocate Rhinos to other protected areas is on.
Theory suggests there is greater risk to a single population but dispersal will mitigate some of the the risks if the sub-populations are large enough. And having ‘all the eggs in one basket’ is always a problem if you drop the basket.