KATHMANDU, Aug 20: Nepal has handed over the second and final pair of the endangered one-horn rhino named Soltini and Mitini to China on August 17 and has been flown to Shanghai on a cargo plane. Similarly, the first pair named Bhadra and Rupasi is currently in Guangzhou-based park of China, which is 3,000 kilometers away from their birthplace Chitwan National Park. On July 12, they were kept in a wooden box and taken to the northern neighbor in a special airplane.
The practice of gifting endangered one-horn rhinos has become somewhat of an inseparable part of Nepal’s bilateral strategy. Many refer to the practice as ‘Gaida Kutniti’, or rhino diplomacy, of Nepal.
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The rulers of Nepal have a long history of practicing ‘Gaida Kutniti’. In 1911, then Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher permitted UK King George V to hunt in tarai.
Likewise, when UK Queen Elizabeth II visited Nepal in 1961, she was allowed to hunt rhinos and other animals in the country.
According to a data, Nepal has already gifted as much as 26 rhinos to different countries including India, China, USA, UK and Germany among others. However, before that According to various reports, hundreds of rhinos have been presented by Nepal to various countries for the sake of bilateral diplomacy from Rana regime till date whereas many more have been hunted by the foreign head of states.
