Assam: Adult rhino found dead in Manas National Park, officials cite natural causes

Officials of Manas National Park said the dead body was found near the Rupohi camp under the Bhuyanpara range of the national park on Saturday

The body of an adult one-horned rhinoceros was recovered in Assam’s Manas National Park on Saturday, but forest officials said it was not a case of poaching and that the death could be a result of fight between two rhinos.

A newborn one-horned rhino with the mother inside the Kaziranga National Park in Assam. (AP File Photo)

Officials of Manas National Park said the dead body was found near the Rupohi camp under the Bhuyanpara range of the national park.

Vaibhav C Mathur, director of Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve, on Sunday confirmed it was a natural death, and said, “We have examined the dead body and it has been found to be a natural death, our officials have confirmed it.”

“It was a male rhino, aged around 18 years. It’s most likely that the animal died due to infighting with other wild animals or another rhino,” he added.

This was the third death of a rhino in Manas National Park this year. One rhino was killed by some poachers in June, while an aged female rhino died naturally earlier this month, he said.

The officials said that the park was inhabited by a significant rhino population in the 1980s, but the number drastically reduced in the next two decades due to high numbers of poaching.

The state government in the 2000s took some important steps and increased the security arrangements. The Assam forest department in 2005 planned to translocate rhinos from the Kaziranga National Park and the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, saving the lives of several wildlife animals, officials said.

In the 2010s, the number of poaching cases reduced, and it came down to zero in 2021. The state government and Assam police are taking strict actions against poaching and have arrested several people in recent times, officials said.

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in Assam and a team from the Chirang Forest Department last week conducted an operation near the India-Bhutan border and arrested three suspected poachers.