World Rhino Day focuses on the joint conservation of India and Bhutan

An Indian rhinoceros, also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, at Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary on World Rhino Day, in Morigaon district, Assam, on September 22, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI

Twenty years ago, there were no one-horned rhinos in the Manas National Park in western Assam and the tiger reserve. A reintroduction program launched in 2006 helped increase its numbers to nearly 50 today, but brought a new conservation challenge – the park’s rhinos will spread internationally.

National park officials marked World Rhino Day on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) by celebrating the herbivore’s “comeback” and three consecutive years of zero poaching. However, rhino specialists have called for a policy change by making Bhutan a conservation partner.

“According to the 2022 census, Manas has an estimated 48 rhinos, although some have died and a few have been born during these four years. Today, we have a much better environment because local stakeholders want more rhinos, which they claim attract more tourists than other animals, including the tiger,” said Deba Kumar Dutta, a lead conservationist associated with the rhino translocation program.

“Manas National Park has the capacity to host more rhinos, but some of those that thrive today often cross over to Bhutan. This guarantees a common protection mechanism between the two countries,” he told The Hindu.

The 2,837 km² Manas Tiger Reserve, core of which is the 500 km² Manas National Park, is adjacent to the 1,057 km² Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan. The tiger reserve is located in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTC) administered by the Bodoland Territorial Region.

Forest officials in Assam agreed that India and Bhutan need to expand their friendly relations for the joint protection of rhinos, tigers, elephants and the entire fragile transboundary Manas landscape. In addition to the bilateral approach, they emphasized the scope for people-to-people protection efforts.

Additional Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Board (Forest) of BTC Department Sonali Ghosh attributed Manas’ “rhino comeback story” to the people living on the fringes of the tiger reserve. “The growing, self-sustaining rhino population in Manas is proof that community-led conservation is working,” she said after celebrating World Rhino Day in the national park’s Bhuyanpara Range.

Civil unrest and extremism-induced poaching, primarily to trade horns for weapons, wiped out Manas’ historic population of about 100 rhinos between the late 1980s and early 2000s.

As part of the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 initiative, 22 rhinos from Kaziranga National Park and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary were translocated to Manas between 2006 and 2021. Translocation during this period also included 20 orphaned rhinos released from the Wildlife and Rehabilitation Center near Kaziranga.

Published – 23 Sep 2026 03:20 IST