Manas National Park (Assam), 16 February, 2016: Two rhinos, Purabi and Dwimalu, undergoing acclimatisation at an enclosure set up by Wildlife Trust of India, International Fund for Animal Welfare (WTI-IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department were released to the wild in Manas National Park this afternoon. This brings the total count of rhinos released by IFAW-WTI and Assam Forest Department to the magic double digit figure, 10.

The Deputy Chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Kampa Borgoyary, who cut the green ribbon across the boma to release the rhinos, said, “Every wild animal adds to the pride we feel in Manas, this UNESCO World Heritage Site that had almost lost everything in it. I am happy to see Manas regain its glory due to the good work by IFAW-WTI and the Forest department.”

“Our conservation success in Manas would not have come about without the support of BTC”, said Vivek Menon, ED and CEO of WTI and Senior Advisor to the President, IFAW. “We have worked for over a decade to bring back Manas from the brink of destruction and while each animal released here adds to pride, I hope each human staying around Manas also feels the responsibility of preserving this natural heritage”, he added.

Rescued as a calf, Purabi was under care at the IFAW-WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) and was moved to Manas National Park to join Dwimalu, an orphaned rhino calf being hand-reared there by the Forest Department assisted by IFAW-WTI. This was done to increase the rehabilitation prospects of Dwimalu who was just a few weeks old and deprived of company since its mother was poached.
Purabi was separated from her mother during the floods in 2012 in Kaziranga, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She was rescued by Assam Forest Department and local people near Haldibari area and admitted to CWRC and later moved to a boma housing Dwimalu at Manas National Park in 2013. CWRC was established in 2002 as a joint initiative of IFAW-WTI with Assam Forest Department.

At Manas, both these calves were together for about two years before being released following established rhino rehabilitation protocols that included hand-rearing, weaning before acclimatisation in the pre release boma.

IFAW-WTI has been assisting the Forest Department and Bodoland Territorial Council authorities to repopulate Manas with rhinos as part of their goal of ‘Bringing Back Manas’ to its former glory. The rhino reintroduction in Manas kickstarted in 2006 with the move of Mainao, a female rhino rescued from the Kaziranga floods and rehabilitated here. Mainao was the first rhino to set foot in this UNESCO World Heritage Site since its entire population was wiped out during the years civil unrest that ended in early 2000s. Since 2006, the IFAW- WTI team had released eight rhinos in Manas, which augmented the rhino population in this park by giving birth to five calves in the wild – a major conservation achievement for the project and a renewed hope for the species in Manas.