Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal is sending two elephants, Khagendraprasad and Rudrakali, to the Gulf state of Qatar on Wednesday.
The tuskers, which were born and raised at the Chitwan National Park (CNP), were formally given a send-off ceremony on Monday. They will now be transported to Bhairahawa by truck and sent to Qatar via a chartered flight from Gautam Buddha International Airport.
This is the first time that Nepal has gifted elephants to another country. Earlier, Nepal used to gift its friendly nations species like one-horned rhinos and ghariyal crocodiles, among others.
According to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), 26 one-horned rhinos have been gifted to several countries so far. Nepal first gifted four rhinos to India to expand the rhino habitat to Dudhwa National Park. Similarly, six rhinos – four in 1987 and two more in 1990 – have been gifted to the US. Nepal has so far gifted four rhinos to China, and two each to Germany, Singapore, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia.
Likewise, Nepal has gifted one wolf to Japan and two leopards to Saudi Arabia, while Ghariyal crocodiles have been gifted to Germany (2), France (6), and Bhutan (2).
Nepal also used to gift wildlife trophies in the past. However, this practice has now been discontinued.
According to DNPWC, a gharial crocodile trophy was gifted to the then Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito (now the Emperor of Japan) in 1987. The largest number of trophies was presented to the then Saudi Crown Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz. The collection included the hides and bones of animals such as gaur (Indian Bison), Royal Bengal tiger, sambar deer, sloth bear, and pangolin. Additionally, in 2002, two leopard skins were gifted for religious purposes to a Naga Baba at Gangotri Dham in India.
Nepal has also gifted 60 eggs each of ghariyal and mugger crocodiles to Japan.
