Chitwan, January 15

The government is preparing to destroy the body parts of dead wildlife from various sanctuaries across the country.

As per the campaign, body parts such as hides, bones, hooves and horns of various animals will be destroyed.

According to Chitwan National Park Chief Conservation Officer Ramchandra Kandel, a 13-member committee has been formed to start the process of dispensing with the remnants of dead animals.

“A taskforce comprising five members has been formed after a meeting of the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Department on December 10 decided to form the committee to study the condition of the body parts and make necessary recommendations. The task force is currently collecting details of the remnants,” he said.

“The taskforce will furnish its report by the third week of January and give its recommendation as to what could be done with the body parts,” Kandel said, adding, “Once the committee takes a decision on the basis of the report, it will make necessary recommendations to the council of ministers.”

He informed that an inventory of the remnants of dead wild animals was being prepared in Chitwan National Park.

According to him, body parts from Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Bardiya National Park, Krishnasar Conservation Area, Rara National Park, Langtang National Park and Makalu Barun National Park have been brought to Chitwan National Park.

Earlier, the government had destroyed the body parts of dead wildlife from sanctuaries across the country at Tikauli of Chitwan about 20 years ago. “As they are otherwise damaged due to various reasons, the decaying remnants are usually burnt,” informed Kandel.

“Since there is a huge cache of dead animal body parts and those seized from smugglers, we can’t protect them all.

Hence there is no option but to destroy them,” said Chitwan National Park spokesperson and Assistant Conservation Officer Nurendra Aryal.

He added that those in better condition are kept for research, observation and educational purposes.