A two-day census to count one-horned rhinos started at the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district, and the Gorumara National Park and the Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary in Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday.

In Bengal, one-horned rhinos are found in all these three places. The last census was conducted in 2022 when the rhino population in the Jaldapara division was 292 and in the Gorumara division, which includes the Chapramari sanctuary, 55.

“We are confident that the rhino population has increased over these three years. After the census, data will be collated to get the new estimated population of the species,” said Parveen Kaswan, the divisional forest officer of the Jaldapara wildlife division.

Sources revealed that teams comprising employees of the state forest department, as well as representatives of NGOs working on the conservation of nature and wildlife, have been formed to conduct the census.

“Each team has been designated with a specific area. The team will move into the area and count the rhinos based on direct sighting. We are using pet elephants, vehicles and even drones for the census,” said Dwijapratim Sen, divisional forest officer of the Gorumara wildlife division.

In Gorumara, 180 persons are participating in the two-day exercise that will end on Thursday. Eighteen pet elephants have been engaged to count the rhinos in core areas. Also, some teams are walking through certain designated areas of the reserve forest to conduct the census.

“It is an important exercise to assess the population of rhinos, the health of the species and the condition of their habitat. The data collected through census will be used to draw up conservation plans of the species and also for protection of their habitat,” said a senior forester.

Like Gorumara, 70 pet elephants have been engaged in Jaldapara for the census. Along with the forest staff, 35 members from 13 NGOs have joined the exercise. In all, around 400 persons are conducting the census in Jaldapara, sources said.

“All of them were trained ahead of the census as to how they should count rhinos,” the forester added.

Because of the exercise, the movement of tourists into Gorumara, Chapramari and Jaldapara was stopped on Wednesday and Thursday. “The forests will reopen for tourists on Friday,” said an official.