New Delhi: Dudhwa Tiger Reserve is faced with a piquant situation. The dominant male rhino , Baanke, has been fighting so much for his females, that he has ended up killing two rivals and injuring many others. His extreme behaviour has the Forest Department worried, as not only are they losing prime males but also, Baanke has sired all the rhino offspring in Dudhwa. Officials are concerned that this narrowing gene pool will lead to inbreeding.Baanke is one of the greater one-horned rhinos translocated from Assam to Dudhwa NP in 1984.Vexed by Baanke’s obsessive behaviour, the forest department in Dudhwa has come up with a solution. They are planning to translocate Baanke to another area at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. The new area is located on the fringes of the park and covers about 17 sq km in Bhadi range of Dudhwa. At present, all the 17 rhinos are located in a 30 sq km fenced-off area in the Kakraha range of Dudhwa.

The great Indian one-horned rhino was formerly extensively distributed in the Gangetic plain, including the Terai grasslands and Dudhwa. However, due to extensive hunting and habitat loss, only a few pockets of rhino poulations exist. They are restricted to parts of Nepal and north West Bengal and Assam. In Nepal, they are found to the east of the Gandaki River in Chitwan National Park, from where they have been now been reintroduced to the Royal Bardia and the Suklaphanta national parks.

In 1984-85, rhinos from Assam and Nepal were relocated to Dudhwa, in an attempt to bring the rhino back to this region, which has grassland, swamps and wooded forests, the perfect habitat for rhinos. The project has been fairly successful with the original group of seven growing to 17. However, the planned soft release has not happened and the population is kept in fenced areas. Bhadi Tal and Churela Tal are two of the areas most suited for the rhinos in the Dudhwa NP, as they offer a combination of grasslands for food, wooded forests for shade and shelter and shallow wetlands for wallowing and foraging.

Ashish Tiwari, Deputy Director, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve points out: "Genetic inbreeding has become a problem and with Baanke out of the way, the other males may get a chance to mate." Tiwari is also hoping to get permission to translocate more rhinos from Assam, with a part of the population moving to Bhadi with Baanke."We would also like to get more rhinos in Kakraha, after Baanke and a few rhinos are moved to Bhadi," says Tiwari.

However, it may not be easy to strike a deal with either Assam or Nepal. Assam has refused to part with any more rhinos, and Nepal might prove too expensive as last time India had to gift 16 elephants to Nepal in exchange for four rhinos.

Besides, this move has met with some doubts from onservationists who question the wisdom of shifting more rhinos into Dudhwa. "The motive to give the rhinos a new home was that there be a new viable wild population of rhinos, in a place other than the north-east. But these rhinos are enclosed, defeating the purpose of the experiment," says a conservationist.

Answers Tiwari, "the rhinos are free-ranging, the enclosure is just for additional protection to prevent the rhinos from straying in the field and giving rise to man-animal conflict. The enclosure also encourages intensive patrolling, which is necessary since the rhino is a prized animal for poachers."

Only about 2500 greater one horned rhinos remain in the wild.