Guwahati, August 20: Hours after the carcass of a rhino was recovered at Bhuyanpara range near Rupohi camp of Assam’s Manas National Park, officials claimed that the wild animal had a natural death refuting any chances of any poaching attempt. Talking to IANS, Vaibhav C. Mathur, director of Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve said, “It was a natural death. We have confirmed it. The horns were also recovered.”

The one-horned rhino whose carcass was found on Saturday was shifted to Manas from Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in 2013. “It was a male rhino around 18 years-old. Most probably the rhino died due to infighting with other wild animals. We are looking into it,” Mathur said. Assam: Female Rhino Dies in Kaziranga National Park, Authorities Rule Out Poaching.

According to the forest officer, this was the third natural death of a rhino in Manas National Park this year. One rhino fell in the hands of poachers in the month of June.

Notably, a suspected rhino poacher died in a police encounter recently in Assam’s Chirang district who had been arrested earlier along the Indo-Bhutan border. Nareswar Basumatary, a poacher, was shot by Assam's Special Task Force (STF), according to the police, as he tried to escape from custody.

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in Assam and a team from the Chirang Forest Department conducted an operation close to the border between India and Bhutan based on a top-secret tip concerning the smuggling of rhino bones and other body parts. In that operation, the authorities found rhino claws, skin, a homemade pistol, and bullets. The police also arrested two other individuals on the charges of poaching.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2023 03:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).