Poachers sawed off the horn and right ear of a female one-horned rhinoceros near the Kaziranga National Park after injuring it with bullets in the early hours of Wednesday. The adult rhino, which had moved out of the wildlife preserve on Monday following its inundation by the Brahmaputra, is battling for life.

“Forest guards and police were tracking it till Tuesday night. Gunshots were heard around 3.45am, and by the time the rhino was located the poachers had escaped,” Assam’s chief wildlife warden Suresh Chand said.

Kaziranga divisional forest officer DD Gogoi said, “We have rounded up a few suspects.”

Poachers routinely target Kaziranga animals during floods when they move from the inundated park to the safety of the hills of Karbi Anglong district across National Highway 37, its southern boundary.