The habitat of the endangered Great Asian one-horned rhino in North Bengal has been hit hard by fund crunch. Insufficient allocations from the Centre have affected the two existing homes of the rhinos at Jaldapara and Gorumara. Even the fate of the much-hyped third proposed habitat at Patlakhawa Forests near Jaldapara, continues to hang in balance since the past two years.

After the flood plains of Brahmaputra in Assam, the river beds of Torsha, Malangi and Murti in North Bengal are the only surviving habitats of these species in the country.

An analysis of tiger scat samples collected from January to May this year at the Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal has revealed the presence of 20 tigers in the reserve forest, senior officials of the tiger reserve said here on Wednesday. “We have got the report from Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, which says there are 20 tigers in the reserve. These figures are very encouraging to us,” R P Saini, the Field Director of Buxa Tiger Reserve told The Hindu over telephone.

GUWAHATI, Nov 30 – In furtherance of the growing bilateral ties between the North-East and Taiwan in the sphere of conservation, the Ambassador of Taiwan, Wen Chyi Ong, today handed over a cheque of $ 6,000 to Aaranyak, a conservation organisation of the North-East as part of a collaborative endeavour on rhino research in Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and Gorumara National Park in West Bengal.

GUWAHATI: The Taiwan government on Wednesday donated an amount of USD 11,000 to two wildlife conservation organisations of Assam, working in the field of one-horned rhino conservation.

Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre, New Delhi, Ambassador Wenchyi Ong made the donations on behalf of the Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture of Taiwan.

‘JICA to give Rs. 400 crore long-term soft loan'

The West Bengal Government is set to sign an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a Rs. 400 crore long-term soft loan for the conservation of wildlife and biodiversity.

Alipurduar, July 31: A scat analysis by a Hyderabad-based laboratory has confirmed the presence of at least three tigers in Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, which is famous for its one-horn rhinoceros.
The report sent by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology had prompted the foresters to take an initiative for tiger conservation in the sanctuary and provide beat officers with cameras to take the animal’s picture.

Jalpaiguri, July 4: The state forest department has requested the Assam government to send 20 female rhinos in exchange for the same number of males to rectify the skewed sex ratio of the animal in Gorumara National Park.

The foresters say the ideal sex ratio of the rhino is 3:1 or three females for each male.

Jalpaiguri, June 28: The forest department is considering setting up a hospital for wild animals.

Jaldapara (Alipurduar), June 23: The state forest department will get funds of nearly Rs 400 crore from Japan for an eight-year project to develop the forests.

Siliguri, June 12: Apalchand forest is set to be declared the third habitat for one-horned rhinoceros in the state after Jaldapara and Gorumara.

The forest, 35km from here, has been home to a pair of rhinos for about two years.

Forest minister Hiten Barman had held a meeting with the senior forest officials at Aranya Bhavan in Jalpaiguri on Friday where the matter was discussed.