It's There, Not Here Yet. As the Jab Is Still Far Away, Precaution Is Vaccine
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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 285 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 25.8 C -1.5 C Sunday, December 13, 2020 | 28-08-2077 Janakpur Jumla It’s there, not here yet. As the jab is still far away, precaution is vaccine, experts say With countries racing to vaccinate their populations, there are concerns Nepal may be left behind, as the end of the pandemic is still nowhere in sight. ARJUN POUDEL KATHMANDU, DEC 12 The United Kingdom rolled out a Covid-19 vaccine for its people last week. Russia too has started inocula- tion. The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. Indian regulators are considering issuing emergency use authorisation AP to three vaccine candidates—Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech, five vaccine manufacturing countries according to Reuters. Sixty percent of for early availability of the vaccine the world’s vaccines are manufac- produced in those countries. tured in India. “Yes, a lot of homework has been The vaccine developed by done. But we still do not know which Sinopharma, China’s leading vaccine vaccine will come and when it will maker, is likely to get approval in come,” Dr Shyam Raj Upreti, coordi- POST PHOTO: PRAKASH CHANDRA TIMILSENA China within December and be nator of the government’s Covid-19 Gajmaya BK, 30, carries her five-month-old baby, the youngest of her four children, while cutting millet hay in Ruby Valley Rural Municipality, Dhading. Her husband has gone abroad to work. available in the market there, vaccine advisory committee, told the The family owns a small piece of land, which produces only enough grains to feed the family for a month. according to Global Times. At least Post. “No vaccine is available in the three other candidates made by market as of today.” Chinese companies are also in the For any vaccine to come to Nepal, it phase III trials. needs to get the World Health The Nepal government too has Organisation’s pre-qualification sta- started some initial homework to inoc- tus, after the UN health agency assess- Tigers sighted high in the hills. Wildlife experts ulate Nepalis against the coronavirus es its quality, safety and efficacy. by amending the existing law through Under the COVAX programme, the an ordinance to facilitate the procure- World Health Organisation (WHO) ment of suitable vaccine, formed sev- will provide vaccines for 20 percent of eral committees for necessary prepa- the population of Nepal. wonder why they are moving up north ration and sent diplomatic notes to the >> Continued on page 2 Improved green cover, less disturbance in upper regions compared to the Tarai, where they are facing habitat loss and decline in prey, could be encouraging tigers to move up. PHOTOS COURTESY: RED PANDA NETWORK AND DIVISION FOREST OFFICE, DADELDHURA This year tigers have been sighted at record high altitudes in the forests of Ilam (left) and Dadeldhura. CHANDAN KUMAR MANDAL “Our history shows that big cats had has conducted extensive research on KATHMANDU, DEC 12 gone extinct in areas east of the tigers, finds the spotting of the tiger Bagmati river.” in Ilam surprising for its location. A few years ago, there were anecdotal The Bagmati river marks the east- “Altitude and climate-wise, this is reports of sightings of a royal Bengal ern border of Rautahat district with not surprising for me as tigers have tiger in Dadeldhura, a hill district in Sarlahi. lived in higher altitudes. What sur- the far west. Then in mid-2018, a tiger Despite the sightings in Dadeldhura prised me was that it was seen in Ilam was spotted on camera in Beldangi of and Ilam, conventional wisdom has it as we have no evidence of tigers east Jogbudha area of the district. that tigers live in the country’s pro- of Bagmati in recent years,” said A year before that sighting, wildlife tected areas in southern plains— Lamichhane. conservationists had managed to cap- Parsa National Park, Chitwan Tigers have been spotted at even ture footage of a big cat prowling a National Park, Banke National Park, higher altitudes in India and Bhutan. community forest in Dadeldhura. Bardiya National Park and In India, the Royal Bengal Tiger has Then in April this year, a tiger was Shuklaphanta National Park—as well been sighted at an altitude of 3,630 once again captured on camera trap at forests adjoining them. metres and in Bhutan at above 4,000 an altitude of 2,500 metres in a The latest tiger census, in 2018, metres. Dadeldhura forest—the highest ever detected signs of tiger presence in 12 “Even when we study the possibili- recorded sighting of the big cat in the districts—Bara, Parsa, Makwanpur, ty of tigers in the eastern part, focus country of 235 tigers. Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Dang, Salyan, has been on districts like Sarlahi, Now another tiger has been photo- Banke, Bardiya, Surkhet, Kailali and Mahottari, Sindhuli, Saptari and graphed on camera. This time at the Kanchanpur—of the 18 districts sur- Udayapur,” said Lamichhane, who is other end of the country—in Ilam. veyed across all potential tiger habi- the chief of the Biodiversity This latest spotting of the tiger at an tats in the Terai Arc Landscape. Conservation Centre, Sauraha, under elevation of 3,165 metres beat the pre- “How amazing [it is] to detect tigers the National Trust for Nature vious record of a tiger sighting. returning to the upper edge of their Conservation. “Although there had Government agencies confirmed range,” Eric Dinerstein, who has been anecdotal reports of sightings of that never before had a tiger been worked in tiger conservation in Nepal tigers in Udayapur in the early 1990s, spotted and captured on camera at since the 1970s, was quoted as saying capturing of a tiger on camera in Ilam such an altitude in the country’s docu- in Red Panda Network’s press release. is unexpected.” mented history. Dinerstein, the author of ‘Tigerland However, wildlife experts do not The sighting in Ilam has left wild- and Other Unintended Destinations’, entirely discard the possibility of life experts baffled once again. described the sighting as “yet another tigers roaming hill areas as in “It has come as a surprise that a accomplishment for Nepal, leading Dadeldhura and Ilam. tiger was spotted in Ilam,” Haribhadra the world in wildlife restoration.” “There were always anecdotal refer- Acharya, a spokesperson for the Nepal has showcased a remarkable ences to tigers dwelling in hilly Department of National Park and achievement in conserving its tiger regions,” said Acharya, the spokes- Wildlife Conservation, told the Post. population. man, who is also the ecologist with the Along with 12 other countries, Department of National Park and Nepal had pledged to double the Wildlife Conservation. “Now we are population of tigers between getting reports of tigers being spotted 2009 and 2022, the “TX2” target in hills—from the far east in Ilam to of the 2010 Saint Petersburg the far west in Dadeldhura.” Declaration on Tiger The latest photographs of the tiger Conservation. in Ilam were captured by one of 20 While the country’s tiger pop- camera traps set up to monitor the ulation was 121 in 2009, the 2018 movements of ten red pandas tiger census put the number of equipped with GPS-satellite collars in big cats in the country at 235, a Kanchenjunga Conservation Area in landmark achievement in being eastern Nepal by Red Panda Network, ahead of the pack. a conservation organisation. Baburam Lamichhane, who >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Transportation of subsidised rice to upper Dolpa begins Last year, 3,000 quintals of foodgrains was allocated to the region but the grains are yet to be supplied. HARI GAUTAM IN RUKUM (WEST) & allocated 3,000 quintals of foodgrains RAJ BAHADUR SHAHI IN MUGU to upper Dolpa. But the food company DEC 12 failed to supply food to the region, resulting in a food shortage. The Food Management and Trading Food shortage is a long-standing Company Limited has begun the pro- problem in upper Dolpa, a remote cess of supplying subsidised rice to region in the Karnali Province that is upper Dolpa. In the lack of subsidised not connected with the road network. rice, the local residents of Only potato, wheat and uwa can be Dolpobuddha, Shey-phoksundo and grown in the region and the local food Chharkatangsong rural municipali- production is not enough to feed all ties were compelled to buy rice in the the residents. market at an exorbitant price. Chief District Officer of Dolpa “Transportation of 3,074 quintals of Suresh Sunar, who is also the chair- rice meant for Dolpobuddha, Shey- man of the District Food Management phoksundo and Chharkatangsong Committee, said that the supply of has already begun. Around 440 quin- subsidised food grains to upper Dolpa tals of rice has already reached Dunai, has finally begun following repeated the district headquarters of Dolpa, requests. while 100 quintals of rice has been “The local residents were compelled transported to Dhargaun of to buy rice at an exorbitant price in Chharkatangsong,” said Kamalraj the market, as the food depots Pandey, Dolpa chief of the Food remained empty for months. We are Management and Trading Company working to make sure that there are POST PHOTO: ANISH REGMI Limited. According to him, around enough food grains in all three local A visitor feeds fish at Taudaha in Kathmandu on Saturday. The only remaining natural lake in Kathmandu Valley is home to many different species of fish.