Poachers kill rhino in Kaziranga park

Amid festivities across Assam associated with the harvest festival of Magh Bihu, poachers struck in Kaziranga national park on Sunday night, killing one female rhino.

The incident took place at Bagori range of the park which is spread over 430-square km.

The poachers however, were not able to take away the animal’s horn due to alert forest officials.

“The shooting took place around 9:10 pm. Our staff, which was on patrolling duty reached the spot immediately and were able to prevent the horn from being sawed off,” said a forest department official.

A combing operation is underway to nab the poachers who are believed to have fled to nearby hills in Karbi Anglong district.

This is the first incident of rhino poaching in the park, which is home to the largest number of one-horned rhinos in the world, this year.

Park officials have had some success in thwarting poaching attempts against the endangered animal, which is prized for the alleged medicinal properties of its horn, in the last year.

In 2017, five rhinos were killed by poachers. The previous year 18 rhinos had been killed by poachers’ bullets.

In 2015, poachers killed 17 rhinos in the world heritage site, which has nearly 2,400 of them, and 27 each in the two previous years.

In a bid to end poaching, forest and police officials have started using sophisticated weapons and equipment to fight the wellarmed poachers.

The last instances of killing were reported in November.

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