Poachers kill one-horned rhino at Kaziranga National Park

A rhino was killed by poachers today in the world famous Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in upper Assam's Golaghat district, making it the fourth such incident in the state in the past one month, forest officials said.

Park foresters heard gunshots around 6 am in the Agratoli Range and immediately went to the area to find a bullet-injured female rhino in pain with her horn still intact, the officials said.
   
Though medical care was immediately provided to the endangered one-horned species, she succumbed to her injuries, they said.

The horn could not be taken away by the poachers as the foresters arrived at the site as soon as they heard the gun-shots, they said.

Agratoli Range of KNP has been cordoned off and over 100 forest staff were combing the forest to prevent the poachers from escaping, they said.

Many rhinos have become victims of poachers in the state this year. A one-horned rhinoceros was killed last month and its horn gouged out by poachers using automatic weapons in Orang sanctuary. There has been four such incidents in the past one month.

The giant mammal's carcass was recovered from the fringe of the Park, 220 km east of Guwahati.
   
Poachers last week at the Orang National Park in northern Assam again gouged out the horn of another rhino when it was alive, but the animal later succumbed to its injuries.