In Nepal, a Desperate Fight to Save the Struggling Rhino

CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK, Nepal, April 10, 2008 — -- This assignment took us to the other side of the planet -- to one of the most hard-to-reach spots in the world, the wilds of southern Nepal.

ABC News producer Almin Karamehmedovic and I patrolled with Nepali soldiers and game wardens on elephant back, in wooden boats along crocodile-infested rivers and on foot in forests filled with wild animals.

We were given unprecedented access to a massive effort by the Nepali government and the World Wildlife Fund to save the great one-horned rhino, or Rhinoceros unicornis.

The rhino can be dangerous, and we were advised to run away if the rhino gets too close. One local told us that the trick is to run away in a zigzag because the rhino's body is too heavy to run zigzag -- the massive creatures can weigh up to 3 tons. But then one of his colleagues told us that actually wouldn't work.

Despite the danger rhinos pose to humans, the danger the massive animals face from humans is even greater; they are being poached into near extinction.

Rhinos have small brains and poor eyesight, which is part of why they are such easy prey for poachers who are after their coveted horn.

One horn can fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the black market. The horns are made into dagger handles in places like Yemen or sold to rogue practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine who peddle rhino medicine. Rhino pills are advertised as fever reducers, but there is no scientific evidence that they work. In fact, legitimate practitioners of Chinese medicine say they don't use them.

At dawn, we took a spine-rattling elephant ride with Christy Williams, a scientist with the World Wildlife Fund. Raised in India and educated in Arizona, Williams is one of the world's leading experts on rhinos. He said that rhinos are disappearing from the planet "for stupid reasons."