Many poachers use traps to kill the rhinos. Last year anti-poaching units confiscated at least 24 traps placed by the poachers. They use toe-chains and dig pits to trap the rhinos, and they also poison the animals. Alhough 19 rhinos died in Nepal in a single year, officials do not appear worried about the loss. Thanks to our patrolling anti-poaching units at the national parks, we lowered the killings by poachers.
Poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Rhinos hide and meat also support a lucrative black market trade. Poaching is rampant in the national parks on Nepal's southern plains, known as the Terai. Poachers take anything that comes their way from fish in the rivers to deer and wild boar and even one-horned rhinos. Poaching was widespread in these forests before the national parks were first set up. After the establishment of the national park in Chitwan in 1972, officials used a network of local informants to round up poachers.