Stray rhino spotted in Sitapur

SHAHJAHANPUR: A rhinoceros that strayed in villages, about 10 km from Lakhimpur Kheri city, during the monsoon is yet to be sent back to its natural habitat.The forest officials are trying to monitor its activities closely and waiting for the animal to move back to its natural habitat. Recently, the rhino was spotted in Sitapur district which is adjacent to Lakhimpur Kheri district. There were reports that it had damaged crops as it had done in Kheri district.
Since the forest department does not have have the drug to tranquillize the rhino, its priority is to reduce human-animal conflict in the area. The drug used to tranquillize the animal is banned in the country. Chief conservator of forests Eva Sharma has also created a WhatsApp group, Rhino Group,which includes principal secretary of forest and other senior officials to share all updates related to this particular pachyderm.
Foresters tracking the animal had traced it to Parsapur village near North Kheri range of forests. Now, the forest officials was waiting for the rhino to move back to its natural habitat on its own.
DFO, South Kheri, Akhilesh Pandey told TOI, “The rhino was located near roadside plantation range of North Kheri division of forests. We are collectively monitoring the movement of the animal and daily updates are shared with the senior officials.”
According to wildlife experts, the rhino came out of either Dudhwa tiger reserve or crossed over from Nepal during floods in the forests. The rhino is listed as critically endangered as per IUCN redlist and the threat of poaching looms over it all the time because of its precious horn and skin. Since then, there have been reports of the animal trampling and destroying crops.
Since it was first sighted outside the reserve forests in May at Dundela near Shardanagar forest range, the rhino has proved to be elusive. It disappeared for a month and was spotted again in July several times. In August, it attacked a local resident at Jhakra village in South Kheri. A team of WWF experts and forest officials were deployed for four days to track it, but the pachyderm again proved to be elusive.