The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation is planning to translocate 30 wild water buffaloes from Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve to Chitwan National Park. 

Shyam Sah, conservation officer at the KTWR, said the decision was made as a measure to counter the population growth of wild water buffaloes, locally known as Arna.  

The wild water buffalo census conducted last year has put the number of wild buffaloes inside the KTWR at 327.

Sah believes that the planned translocation will improve the survival rate of the wild water buffaloes leaving their current home as well as of those that will remain. The CNP is an ideal habitat for wild buffaloes, Sah added.

Meanwhile, some locals have protested the decision. One Rabin Ghimire claimed that the KTWR was simply making a swap deal as the CNP for some rhinos.

A team from the DNPWC has identified the CNP as a habitable place for wild water buffaloes. The team also claimed that wild water buffaloes used to roam inside the CNP in the past, but they were  wiped out by poachers as wildlife security was not as tight as in the present day.

Wild buffalo is listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. It is estimated that there are 3,400 wild water buffaloes in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Bhutan.