The government has decided to gift two pairs of endangered one-horned rhinos from the wild to Chinese zoos as part of strengthening bilateral relations and for long-term support to biodiversity conservation.

A Cabinet meeting on Sunday approved the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation to gift the rhinos to China. Chinese authorities had made the request to visiting Forest Minister Agni Prasad Sapkota in January this year.

“This is good news for us that China is trying to establish a new area of cooperation in biodiversity conservation through rhino. It has

opened the door for future collaboration in wildlife conservation between the two countries,” said Maheshwar Dhakal, deputy director general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.

According to him, rhinos from the Chitwan National Park will be gifted to China. The CNP is home to 605 of the 645 rhinos in Nepal. Details about where these rhinos will end up in China are yet to be finalised, said Dhakal. “A technical team will be formed to work in facilitating the procedure,” he added.

This is the first time since 2007 that the government has decided to gift wild animals to another country. Before that, then-King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, now renamed the National Trust for Nature Conservation, used to gift wild animals under the patronage of monarchs and royal family members to foreign zoos including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Germany.

Ministry officials had earlier said that in exchange for the rhinos, the Chinese side would provide financial and technical assistance for the proposed Forensic Science Laboratory in Bhaktapur, help establish an international centre for community forests, and support wildlife conservation projects in Nepal. Necessary preparations are being made by the government to gift the endangered mammals to the northern neighbour during the “expected” visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping before October this year, a source at the Forest Ministry said.

Use of animals as gifts between the countries is not new to the world. China’s ‘panda diplomacy’ that started in the late 1950s was a successful move until the panda population fell sharply. India imposed a ban in gifting animals as diplomatic niceties in 2005.