MP’s Rhino Dream Hits Roadblock As Assam Declines Transfer, State Eyes Other Zoos

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The efforts of state government to get rhinoceros from Assam have received a setback. Assam has refused to give the rhino from the zoo due to certain pressing reasons.

Now, Madhya Pradesh is looking to zoos of other states to realise its dream of getting a rhino.

In October last year, chief minister Mohan Yadav visited Assam and held talks with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to get rhino, wild buffaloes, king cobra from there.

Both states signed MoU in this regard. After the MoU, Van Vihar was the first national park to have moved a proposal to get a rhino.

Van Vihar director Vijay Kumar said Assam refused to give the rhino as it was not in a position to provide it. “Now, we are exploring the other places to get it. Zoo of Patna (Bihar) and West Bengal are other options being contemplated in this regard,” he added.

Meanwhile, a senior forest department official said that Assam did not have a rhino, which could be given to state under zoo-to-zoo programme.

The rhino reared in wild of Assam cannot be brought to Madhya Pradesh as state forest officials are not trained to take care of rhinos in jungles.

However, Assam agreed to provide 50 wild buffaloes after the MoU. So far, two batches of wild buffaloes have been given by it to the state.

King cobra proposal

Other than this, Van Vihar has also long ago moved a proposal to get the king cobra from Karnataka but this proposal too could not be executed.