Manas, February 20, 2014: A sub-adult male rhino, Maju, was shifted today to a boma in Manas National Park from the International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), Kaziranga. The rhino will be released in the wild following a period of in situ acclimatisation in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Maju, who is four years old now, was less than a month old when he was found alone on September 10, 2009 at Baghmari area in the western range of Kaziranga National Park and the reason for separation from his mother remains unknown. He was rescued and admitted at CWRC for hand-raising and eventual rehabilitation, keeping with the set rhino rehabilitation protocol cultivated over the years. He will join the two sub-adult rhinos who were shifted to the pre-release site at Manas National Park earlier in 2014. (Read more about that shift here.)

CWRC is a wildlife rehabilitation facility jointly run by Assam Forest Department and International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI). CWRC has been serving the animals in distress in and around Kaziranga since 2002 and successfully rehabilitated rhinos since 2006. Other than rhinos, CWRC has been involved in rescue and rehabilitation of about 3500 animals since 2002 and more than 50% of these rescued animals were successfully returned to their own habitat.

During the 400 km journey to Manas, the rhino was escorted by Dr Rathin Barman, Deputy Director and Dr Anjan Talukdar, Senior Veterinarian at CWRC. They were accompanied by two of the centre’s animal keepers, Lakhiram Das and Ramen Das, who had been taking care of the rhino.