KATHMANDU, Nov 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Nepal has intensified anti-poaching operations to protect its prized tigers, elephants and rhinos after dozens of convicted poachers escaped prison during an anti-government uprising in September, conservation officers said on Wednesday.

"This is a matter of concern for all conservationists," Bed Kumar Dhakal, deputy director general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, told AFP.

"It is an added threat to our conservation efforts, so we have directed all the national parks to increase regular patrolling."

More than 50 poachers and wildlife traffickers escaped prison among a mass jailbreak of 14,500 detainees countrywide.

Many returned or have been recaptured, but police are still hunting for more than 5,000 fugitives.

That includes at least 18 convicted poachers, according to officials from Chitwan, the country's flagship park and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

"Our national park has beefed up regular patrols and strengthened community-based anti-poaching units," Avinash Thapa Magar, Chitwan National Park spokesman, told AFP.

Dhakal said officers are gathering nationwide data on escaped prisoners sentenced for wildlife crimes.

Nepal has been widely praised for its conservation success, which has helped bring several endangered species -- including tigers and Asian one-horned rhinoceroses -- back from the brink of local extinction.

Its efforts have helped triple its tiger population to 355 since 2010, and increase one-horned rhinoceros numbers from about 100 in the 1960s to 752 in 2021.

Youth-led protests that rallied under the loose umbrella title of "Gen Z", referring to those aged under 28, erupted on September 8 after a government ban on social media.

The movement was more broadly fuelled by economic hardship and growing anger over corruption.

Protests then morphed into nationwide fury, culminating in the collapse of the government as crowds torched parliament and the Supreme Court. At least 76 people were killed in two days of violence.

Within days of the government's collapse, 73-year-old former chief justice Sushila Karki was appointed interim prime minister, to lead the Himalayan nation to elections on March 5, 2026.