Lucknow: At least five rhinos have gone missing from the Dudhwa national park. Though the forest department officers are tightlipped about the incident, wildlife enthusiasts have voiced concern over their disappearance. “Frantic search is on for the rhinos, missing for the past four days. The area has been cordoned off,” said a Dudhwa official. When TOI tried to contact Dudhwa director Shailesh Prasad, he hung up. His deputy, too, could not be reached for a comment on the development all through the day. While Dudhwa officials went incommunicado, local residents informed TOI that a few days back a rhino had ventured out of the cramped range of 25 sq km, where 29 of them have been put together. Officials, however, hunted it back to its moorings. But, what has happened of the five others who have gone stray is not known. Dudhwa is prone to poaching due to its proximity to Indo-Nepal border. Whether the rhinos have fallen prey to hunters is also not known. From regional extinction to being overpopulated within 25 square kilometre confinement in Dudhwa National Park, rhino has registered a comeback of sorts on the wildlife map of Uttar Pradesh. From none till 1984 to 29 now, their number is fairly good in the state. 15 rhino cubs killed in the past The Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) calls it one of the most successful rehabilitation and reintroduction wildlife programmes in the country. The callous attitude of the forest department and lack of security and vigil, however, can undo much of the efforts, say wildlife enthusiasts. There have been incidents in the past where rhinos have ventured out and got killed in the wild attacks. “At least 15 rhino cubs could have been killed by tigers,” said sources in forest department. However, since, it is a huge number this time which has strayed out of the herd, forest officials could have swung into action. However the search operation has not yielded any result so far. The comeback story of rhinos in UP is one full of meticulous planning and effort. The state was deprived of its last rhino in 1878 in the adjacent forests of Pilibhit in the terai belt of the state. After even the last animal was killed, rhinos were almost extinct from Indo-Gangetic plain. However, setting up of Dudhwa in 1977 helped in rhino conservation. It was the Bangkok unit of International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1979 that appealed for giving rhino, almost extinct by then in India, a due importance vis-à-vis its breeding and conservation. The Government of India was forwarded the appeal and it had then set up a committee to find a suitable home for rhino. National Board for Wildlife had chosen Dudhwa that came into existence in 1977 as an apt refuge for the animal. The habitat here was conducive for one-horned rhino, majorly a native of Indian subcontinent. It was in 1984 that under Rhino Rehabilitation Project, five rhinos were brought to Dudhwa after being captured from the forests of Assam. Out of five, however, only three could survive which included a female and two male rhinos. In 1985, four more rhinos were brought. There were total seven with which the breeding of progenies started.