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Thirty-six rhinoceroses have died in Chitwan National Park (CNP) and its buffer zone in the current fiscal year. Out of these, two were killed due to poaching and the remaining due to natural causes.

CNP's information officer Ganesh Prasad Timilsina said that the latest casualty, a female rhino of around 25 years, was found dead near the Meghauli Range post. Its horn and hooves are safe and the Park authorities believe that it must have died of natural causes as there are no wounds on its body.

Of the two rhinos killed by poachers in the current fiscal year, the horn and hooves of one had been taken away by the poachers while those of the next one were found intact.

Timilsina said 34 rhinoceroses died of natural causes and half them due to fighting among each other. Most of the rhinos died due to old age, getting stuck in swamp, tiger attack and falling in ditches.

Thirty-three rhinos had died due to natural causes last fiscal year, 2020/21. Years back, 44 rhinoceroses had died due to natural causes in one year. This is the highest number of rhino casualty due to natural causes so far.

The death rate of rhinos is increasing with the increase in the number of rhinos. CNP's chief conservation officer Haribhadra Acharya said maximum possible efforts are being made to reduce the number of rhino death due to natural causes.

According to him, the CNP has made a plan for internal relocation of rhinoceroses so that there is no high number of the animal at one place. Along with this, the CNP has emphasized on managing the rhino habitat. A proposal has been forwarded for developing model grassland for the rhino.

CNP has geared towards developing grasslands and water sources at separate places with the increasing trend of rhinos dying due to fighting when many rhinos lived at a single place.

Coliform bacteria has been detected in various drinking water sources of Baglung district.

Health Office, Baglung conducted tests on samples taken from 84 drinking water sources which showed coliform present in most of the sources.

The Office detailed that coliform was found in the drinking water sources distributed by Baglung Town Drinking Water and Sanitation Users Organisation as well as in most of the other drinking water sources in the district.

However, the water distributed in taps in the town has no coliform as chlorine powder is used in the water tank for the treatment of water, said a lab technician at the Health Office, Dilli Acharya.

In course of conducting test of water sources in Baglung municipality, coliform was found at 10 water sources while the diarrhea-causing bacteria was detected in seven out of 10 water sources in Jaimini municipality, three out of 12 water sources in Galkot municipality, two out of seven water sources in Dhorpatan municipality, seven out of 16 water sources in Tamankhola rural municipality and three out of nine water sources in Badigad rural municipality.

Acharya added that coliform was found at four water sources of Nishikhola rural municipality, four out of 11 water sources at Tamankhola rural municipality and four out of 12 water sources at Bareng rural municipality.

The Health Office has carried out test of water sources on a representative basis at the request of local levels.

Britannica defines this coliform bacteria as any of various rod-shaped microorganisms that occur in the intestinal tracts of animals, including humans, and that are widespread in the environment. It adds that this bacteria serve as critical indicators of water quality and more precisely show evidence of recent fecal contamination of water supplies.

The government has announced a public holiday on Sunday on the occasion of Eid-al-Adha (Bakra Eid).

Home Ministry spokesperson Phanindra Mani Pokharel said that the government decided to give public holiday on Bakra Eid at the request of Muslim Commission.

Most of the places of the country would witness rainfall for next three days due to influence of the monsoon wind.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the weather across the nation would remain partly to generally cloudy and light to moderate rainfall has been predicted at many places.

The Department has requested all to adopt precautions as there is risk of landslide, soil erosion, increase in water level of rivers and streams, and daily life and transport service might be affected as there is a possibility of light to moderate rainfall at many places of the country.

Light to moderate rainfall is now taking place at few places of Province 1, Madhes, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces.

The sky across the country will remain generally cloudy in the night and light to moderate rain is likely to take place at some places of Gandaki and Sudurpaschim Provinces and at few places of the remaining provinces.