Poachers Kill Rhino in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park, Horn Hacked Off, First Poaching Since April 2019
Poachers killed an adult male Indian rhinoceros in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park using an AK-47 assault rifle.
Guwahati, May 10: Poachers killed an adult male Indian rhinoceros in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park using an AK-47 assault rifle. The carcass of the rhino with its horn missing was spotted on Saturday evening. This is the first case of rhino poaching in Kaziranga National Park after a gap of 13 months. There was no instance of poaching in the 430 sq km park since last April. Empty shells of an AK-47 assault rifle were also found near the carcass. Assam: Man Held for Poaching at Kaziranga National Park.
"We found the carcass at 5.30 pm near Duamari beel which falls under the Eastern Range Agoratoli range of the park," P Sivakumar, Director of KNP, told The Indian Express. "It seems the poaching incident took place on Wednesday," he added. The use of the AK-47 assault rifle suggested that local insurgent groups, who are in possession of such sophisticated arms, could be behind the poaching. Assam Floods: Heavy Rainfall Wreaks Havoc, 70% of Kaziranga National Park Submerged, Animals Taken to Highlands.
"There was some information about the movement of eight persons allegedly belonging to some extremist group from Karbi Anglong in the Panbari area with three AK series rifles. Combing operations were carried out based on the information," Sivakumar was quoted as saying. Last year, the Assam government raised, trained and deployed a special Rhino Protection Force, consisting of 82 armed personnel after which the number of poaching significantly went down.
The last poaching case was reported on April 1, 2019. "Kaziranga did its best to keep poachers away in last 13 months. Unfortunately, it was the poachers’ day (sic)," Rohit Choudhury, a wildlife activist, tweeted. Kaziranga is the largest habitat of the one-horned rhino in the world.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 10, 2020 04:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).