So how DO you move five tons of rhino?

Two female rhinos find new home in Manas National Park

January 2012: So how do you move five tonnes of rhino? Well, the answer, according to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) is very carefully, of course! 

NEW HOME: One of the rhinos is let free in Manas National Park. Picture: IRF

IRF field teams have been hard at work in Assam, where, as part of Indian Rhino Vision 2020 they moved two more female greater one-horned rhinos from Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary to Manas National Park.

After being immobilized and placed in crates, the rhinos left by truck Pabitora escorted by five vets, representatives from Assam's Department of Environment and Forests, IRF, WWF-India, and several community members from around the park. The convoy also had a police escort.

Critical to keep both animals and people safe
The two rhinos were released the next day, and have been closely watched by the highly-trained monitoring team in Manas National Park as they adjust to their new home.

Each is fitted with a radio collar that allows effective monitoring, so it is possible to determine where they are, how they are moving, and with which other rhinos they may be associating. WWF-India is to oversee long-term monitoring of the animals.

Moving a rhino is no easy task, requiring months of meticulous planning for every possible situation that might arise from capture to release. It is critical that both the animals and the people involved are safe, and that the animals of right age and sex are chosen to allow the new population to thrive.

TEAM EFFORT: The vets prepare a rhino for translocation. Picture: IRF

Ten rhinos have been released into Manas since 2008, which recently was restored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ten more rhinos will be moved from Kaziranga National Park before the end of the year to create a founder population of 20 animals.

Population is making a recovery
Translocating rhinos from the two sites will help create a viable population of this threatened species that has recovered from fewer than 200 animals in the early 1900s to more than 2,850 today.

About 80 per cent of these rhinos are found in India, with the remainder making their home in Nepal.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020 is a long-term project with the aim of building up the Indian rhino population from approximately 2,320 today in Assam to 3,000 among seven of its protected areas by the year 2020.

Once Manas receives all its rhinos, the next release site will be Laokhawa Wildlife Sanctuary, another site where rhinos were lost during Assam 's civil conflict in the late 1990s. The IRV 2020 partners will begin laying the groundwork for this project this year, beginning with habitat and security assessments.