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Poachers kill third Rhino in Kaziranga Park, steal horn
The carcass was recovered with its horn removed and other body parts missing from a pit.
Third rhino has been killed by poachers in last 40 days in Kaziranga National Park of Assam.
The poachers killed the female adult rhino on Tuesday on the westernmost side of Bagori, Divisional Forest Officer of the UNESCO declared World Heritage Site S.K. Seal Sharma said.
The carcass was recovered with its horn removed and other body parts missing from a pit.
Soon after hearing gunshots, Forest Department patrol teams rushed towards the bank of the river from where the the animal thieves were suspected to have entered the Bagori range.
The horn is estimated to be 500 gram in weight as the rhino was a ‘sub-adult’, the DFO said, adding, several cartridge shells of .303 rifle were recovered from between Daflang and Borbeel Forest Camps in Bagori Range.
Watch: Rhino killed in Assam’s Kaziranga national park
Though a massive search has been launched since Sunday morning, the carcass could not be located till Tuesday as it had fallen into a ditch and was covered by tall grass and water hyacinth, Pradip Phukan, forest beat officer of Borbil-Daflang Beat of KNP said.
Meanwhile, KNP authorities intensified the security of the Park as the poachers have changed their movement pattern taking the waterways from the westernmost side of the Brahmaputra to enter Bagori and Agaratoli ranges as indicated by the recovery of the carcass, nearly 12 km away from Bagori Range Office.
On January 27 last, an adult male rhino was killed in Kaziranga and its horn taken away by poachers. Last year 17 rhinos were killed by poachers.
