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Rhinos Go International: Manas Park Faces New Conservation Challenge
23 Sep
Summary
- Manas National Park rhinos are frequently crossing into Bhutan.
- Reintroduction program in 2006 increased rhino population to nearly 50.
- Success attributed to community-led conservation and zero poaching for three years.
Twenty years ago, western Assam's Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve had no one-horned rhinos. A reintroduction program initiated in 2006 has seen the rhino population increase to approximately 48 today. This success, coupled with three successive years of zero poaching, was celebrated on World Rhino Day on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
However, the thriving rhino population presents a new conservation challenge, as many are now frequently crossing into neighboring Bhutan. Rhino specialists are calling for a policy shift and a joint conservation mechanism between India and Bhutan to manage this transboundary population. The 2,837 sq. km Manas Tiger Reserve adjoins Bhutan's Royal Manas National Park, highlighting the need for bilateral cooperation for the entire fragile landscape.
Sonali Ghosh, Head of the Forest Department for the Bodoland Territorial Council, credited the rhino comeback to community-led conservation efforts by local stakeholders. The park's historic rhino population was nearly wiped out due to extremism-driven civil unrest and poaching between the late 1980s and early 2000s. The Indian Rhino Vision 2020 initiative involved translocating 22 rhinos to Manas between 2006 and 2021.
