THE RHINOS OF BANGLADESH

The Greater One Horned Rhinoceros (rhinoceros unicornis) inhabited the length of north Southasia from east to west, from the Indus plains right across the Ganga-Jamuna doab, along the Ganga maidaan, into the Brahmaputra valley and onward to the Burmese realm. Which means what is today Bangladesh was very much a part of the rhino habitat. About 1600 rhinos are now left in India, in the reserves in Assam, the biggest of which is Kaziranga; and about 400 remain in Nepal's Chitwan and Bardia national parks.

Bangladesh, indeed, has become the most wildlife deficient country in Southasia. The only climax species it can boast of are a handful of Royal Bengal Tigers in the rapidly diminishing Sunderban mangroves. Otherwise, what we have in -this land of teeming humanity is the standard lineup of spotted leopard, Hanuman langur, rhesus macaque, chital deer, and wild boar. Nothing to boast at CITES conclaves about.

Bangladesh's list of 'extinct vertebrae' includes the gaur, the swamp deer (Barasingha), the hog deer, the marsh mugger crocodile, the Gharial crocodile, and the one-horned rhinoceros. (The Lesser Javan Rhinoceros, too, once upon a time, trudged the delta but disappeared even before our local rhino.)

Even a look at the laws show that the rhino is not remote from Bangladeshi history. The Bengal Rhinoceros Preservation Act of 1932 was enacted in a united Bengal, not by the Indian, but by the Bengal government. The Act was superseded only in 1973 when the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) Order was passed, possibly because they saw no hope of a rhino return. That was not very forward looking.

Any country that is cut off from its historical natural heritage is the poorer for it, and if it is true that what is today Bangladesh once had the Greater One Horned Rhinoceros lumbering about its oxbows and grasslands in the not-so-distant past, then it is right and proper to reintroduce the species to Bangladesh. At one stroke, we would be engaging in an act of environmental healing, introducing an imaginative way to educate children, and reviving excitement for the wild in a country that has hardly anything 'wild' left in it.

Reintroducing the rhino to Bangladesh would be a balm to the troubled psyche, a wildlife biology equivalent of Rabindra Sangeet and/or Baul music. Certainly, the arrival of the rhino along the Brahmaputra/Jamuna banks will not resolve all Bangladeshi socio-political ailments, and it will most certainly not help the great ladies of the BNP and the AL resolve their bottomless animosity. But then again, it just might. Anything is worth trying.

To get down to the ecological nitty gritty of the matter at hand, historically, longitudenally, latitudinally, climatologically and vegetationally, Bangladesh is capable of sustaining the rhino. This is the same tropical monsoon terrain as one finds in the nearby sanctuaries of Assam and in Chitwan in Nepal. The managers of the Royal Chitwan National Park have a lot of experience translocating these massive beasts that weigh more than a ton. The rhinos translocated from Chitwan to Bardiya have been psychologically stable.

We do not propose the transfer of a couple of dejected specimen to Dhaka's Mirpur Zoo. What we propose is the setting aside of at least a, couple of square miles of riverine expanse, to be cordoned off and allowed to recreate the habitat of yesteryears. In a country crisscrossed by rivers, it should not be difficult to find such a plot. What the rhino need is flowing water, wallowing pools and a mix of jungle and grassland. Undulating terrain would be nice but (this being Bangladesh) not essential. Before long, the habitat would be complete with Elephant Grass, indigenous trees such as simal (silver cotton), and perhaps even sal (shorea robusta).

If Bangladesh decides to go for a rhino habitat, Southasian neighbours Assam and Nepal, endowed with the animal, will undoubtedly lumber forward to help undo a historical wrong and an ecological misfortune. In late June, 40 marsh mugger crocodiles were translocated from Madras to Dhaka in the spirit of wildlife biology bhai-bhai.

After crocs, why not the rhino? Heritage-wise, Bangladesh could then take pride in being once again, not only the land of the Sunderban swamp, the Mahasthangarh mound, the Chittagong hills, the Buriganga ghats – but also the Jamuna rhino.