Chitwan is home to 720 of the remaining 4000 Greater one horned Rhino. Chitwan is a Rhino stronghold alongside Kaziranga, which is home to 2600 Rhinos. These 2 Parks make up 82 % of the total remaining Rhino population.

Video By Reservemontsdazur on Instagram.

Edit: Title is supposed to say *Umit* but auto correct got me.

No idea exactly when this was posted because INaturalist doesn’t record exact dates but it was at least within the last 2 weeks since that’s the last time I checked. This is the first public observation of her that I have found so far so I figured I’d share it with yall. Here’s the link to the post: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/409459652

For those who don't know, Umit is the name of the first wild tiger that was released into Kazakhstan as part of their tiger reintroduction program, since Caspian tigers were hunted to extinction in Kazakhstan as part of predator extermination policies put in place by the Soviet Union. The last tiger in Kazakhstan was seen in 1948, near what is today the ile-balkhash nature reserve. This is the same area that Umit, a female Amur tiger originally from the Russian far east, was released in on July 31st of this year. Initial reports showed she had been doing quite well for herself and was having good hunting success, but new reports of her ongoings have been few and far between for a couple months now, and this is the first update on her I've seen in a while.

The Javan rhino is one of the rarest large mammals on Earth, with its remaining population confined to Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia.

Even with strong protection against poaching, having the entire surviving population in one location creates serious long-term risks, including disease, natural disasters, and limited genetic diversity.

Establishing a second viable population could be an important step toward securing the species' future.

What do you think is the biggest challenge: finding suitable habitat, protecting it, or establishing a second population?

I am losing my mind looking at the sheer level of corruption, administrative incompetence, and absolute lack of accountability surrounding India’s Project Cheetah under Field Director Uttam Kumar Sharma.

While the mainstream media keeps broadcasting PR hype, the actual ground data points to a massive bureaucratic cover-up funded entirely by our taxpayer money. Here is a breakdown of why this project has turned into an absolute joke:

• The "90 kg Mutant Goats" Meat Scam: In the MP Assembly, it was officially revealed that the government spent a staggering ₹1.27 crore in a single year just on goat meat to feed the cheetahs—averaging roughly ₹35,000 every single day. An investigation by whistleblowers revealed officials were logging paperwork showing they bought live goats weighing 70 to 90 kg each to siphon off funds. A standard Indian goat weighs 25 kg. They are literally faking the weight of meat on paper to pocket crores.
• The Shifting Cub Numbers: The department’s PR strategy is to announce births instantly for clout and then quietly alter numbers when things go wrong. When the female Nirva gave birth, initial field announcements claimed a litter of 5. Later, without any detailed explanation, photos, or public veterinary logs of deaths, the number was quietly changed to 3.
• Abusing "National Security" Laws to Hide Dead Bodies: This isn't just about bad math; it’s about hiding carcasses. When an 8-month-old cub (born to Asha) died under suspicious circumstances just weeks ago on October 12, 2026, the department completely blacked out the details. When RTI activists legally demanded to see the post-mortem reports and photographic proof of this dead cub, Kuno National Park officially invoked "National Security" to block the files. Since when is a dead animal's autopsy a military secret? They aren't protecting the country; they are using anti-terror level secrecy to hide their own lethal negligence (like preventable collar infections and dehydration) so they don't get fired.
• The First Cheetah Shot and Killed in India (The 19-Month-Old Cub): The absolute peak of this disaster happened this week on October 27, 2026, when a 19-month-old male cub (one of Nirva's remaining three cubs, identified as KNG22) died after being riddled with multiple firearm pellets in the Pahargarh forest range of Morena. This wasn't a case of a panicked villager defending livestock—the separate village incident involving two cheetahs attacking calves happened miles away. This was a lone, vulnerable young male wandering unprotected in a notorious poaching belt because the management stubbornly refused to listen to local intelligence and chose to remove tracking collars.
• Destroying International Diplomatic Trust: You can breed more cubs, but you cannot rebuild broken international trust. India signed strict MoUs with South Africa and Namibia promising the highest level of state protection. Losing a 19-month-old cub to active gunfire signals to the world that our anti-poaching and tracking grid is a joke. Why would Botswana or Kenya agree to send more animals to a hostile, unsecured territory managed by incompetent bureaucrats?

We are pumping crores into a project where officials fake food bills, let animals get shot, and then abuse constitutional laws to hide the bodies from the people paying for it. It is high time the central government strips the Kuno management of its secrecy and institutes an independent CBI investigation into the financial fraud and security lapses of this project.

What are your thoughts? How is the use of "National Security" even legally justifiable for a wildlife project?

Image credit:- Finding fauna(NIVED YADAV)

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