They come right past the house’: learning to live with rhinos as numbers soar in Nepal
Smadar Spector
The country is seeing an increase in human-wildlife conflict as the number of megafauna, including rhinos and tigers, grows. But there are efforts to tackle the problem around Chitwan national park through education and training
he tourists lining the steep embankment buzzed with excitement, phones out, snapping away in the twilight as a wild Indian rhinoceros grazed below the Nepali village of Sauraha. Climbing to the main street, the rhino ambled down the middle of the road.
Local people warned tourists to give it plenty of space. All manner of wheeled vehicles slowed, then passed. The rhino turned its horn at a cyclist passing too close, triggering gasps from the assembled crowd.
Night had fallen by the time it reached the local hotel. The rhino, illuminated by headlights, turned to enter the grounds. The hotel manager stationed himself in the parking lot and shone a strobe torch in the rhino’s eyes.
Pausing momentarily, it turned, as the manager had hoped, on to the footpath through the garden, disappearing into the darkness behind the hotel.
The close encounter ended without incident, but as Nepal navigates more and more incidents of human-wildlife conflict, it is learning how to educate those most at risk.
In February, Doma Paudel, Nepal’s first female trail guide and founder of the Wildlife Victim Fund, held a seven-day immersive workshop, bringing together 21 emerging environmentalists to help them develop strategies to teach community members how to coexist more safely with megafauna.
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manager uses torchlight to guide a wild Indian rhinoceros through the grounds of his hotel in Sauraha
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)
the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Until every cage is empty. Until every animal is free
יש מלאכים שהצמיחו פרווה במקום כנפיים
התחברות אל בע"ח במקום לשלוט בהם מרוממת אותנו לכוכבים (ברברה קלו הנד)
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)
the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Until every cage is empty. Until every animal is free
יש מלאכים שהצמיחו פרווה במקום כנפיים
התחברות אל בע"ח במקום לשלוט בהם מרוממת אותנו לכוכבים (ברברה קלו הנד)
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)
the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Until every cage is empty. Until every animal is free
יש מלאכים שהצמיחו פרווה במקום כנפיים
התחברות אל בע"ח במקום לשלוט בהם מרוממת אותנו לכוכבים (ברברה קלו הנד)