Not a case of poaching, says official on female rhino found dead in Assam

The carcass was spotted by a team of patrolling forest rangers on the banks of Diphlu river near the Salmara forest area

SILCHAR: A female rhino found dead in the Kohora range near Kaziranga National Park on Monday was not killed by poachers, Assam forest department officials said on Tuesday.

Jatindra Sarma at the Kaziranga National Park said the horn of the rhino was intact, which indicates that it was not a case of poaching (ANI)

The officials said the rhino might have died due to old age. The carcass was spotted by a team of patrolling forest rangers on the banks of Diphlu river near the Salmara forest area.

“As per the initial investigation, it looks like the rhino had died due to old age because its horn was also intact, which suggests that this wasn’t a poaching case,” said Jatindra Sarma at the Kaziranga National Park.

Sarma said that they are trying to ascertain the cause of death.

“There are multiple reasons of deaths of rhinos in Kaziranga and sometimes small calfs get killed by tigers and other carnivorous animals,” he said.

Sarma said that there was a visible increase in the number of tigers in Kaziranga and other parts of Assam and it was only natural that they preyed on animals such as buffalo and rhinos.

He added that there have been some instances of old female rhinos sustaining serious injuries during mating.

Officials said there had been no case of rhino poaching in 2022. One poaching case was, however, reported in March this year.

On August 2, a skeleton of a one-horned rhino was found at Kahitama Beat in Bhabari range at Manas National Park in Assam.