Siliguri, Jan. 4: An international workshop on rhino-conservation will be held in Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary on January 7 and 8 to help foresters meet the challenges of skewed sex ratio and inbreeding among the pachyderms as well as poaching and smuggling of their horns.

The Bengal forest department is organising the meet with the help of the specialist group on Asian rhinos from the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Participants will come from India, Nepal and even Bangladesh, a country without a rhino-population of its own.

“We will focus on the problems of skewed sex ratio among rhino populations as well as inbreeding and infighting. Poaching and smuggling of rhino horns and other body parts will also be discussed,” said rhino expert Bibhab Kumar Talukdar. The co-chair of the specialist group for south Asia was talking to The Telegraph over telephone from Guwahati.

North Bengal has its own share of problems as it tries to conserve its rhino population. An 1:1 sex ratio has already led to an increase in infighting among the 25-odd rhinos of Gorumara National Park as the males try to muscle each other out of the forests (the ideal ratio should be 2 females for every male).

Experts are also concerned about inbreeding in Jaldapara, which has 121 rhinos. “Two male rhinos, Madhu and Ratul, were brought from Assam to tackle the problem, but the local herds rejected them. The problem of inbreeding thus continues. We expect some solutions from the workshop,” said S.B. Patel, the chief conservator of forests (north Bengal).

Madhu had died in Jaldapara after getting injured in a fight with a local rhino, while Ratul was shifted to Alipur zoo in Calcutta.

At the meet, foresters from Nepal will speak of the difficulties they face in Royal Chitwan and Royal Bardia National Parks. “We also discuss the proposal of developing a network with Nepal to check poaching and wildlife trade,” said Talukdar.

Tariq Aziz, an associate director of WWF, the global conservation organisation, and the head of Asian Rhino and Elephants Action Strategy, a WWF initiative, in India, emphasised the need for such a workshop in north Bengal.

“Because of the high rate of inbreeding among rhinos in the reserves there, the calves are often found to have physical and health defects. This problem must be taken care of immediately,” Aziz said over telephone from Delhi.