One-Horned Rhino Which Strayed Outside Kaziranga National Park, Attacked People, Found Dead
A rare one-horned rhinoceros, which strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam and attacked several people in the past couple of days was found dead in a paddy field. The carcass was found in the Padumoni area of Golaghat district on Monday night, days after it was first spotted outside the protected area. The body was first found lying in a paddy field by some locals who immediately informed the police and forest officials.
A rare one-horned rhinoceros, which strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam and attacked several people in the past couple of days was found dead in a paddy field.
The carcass was found in the Padumoni area of Golaghat district on Monday night, days after it was first spotted outside the protected area.
BCCL
The body was first found lying in a paddy field by some locals who immediately informed the police and forest officials.
Rhino attack four people
The rhino was roaming in different places for the past few days and had attacked at least four people including two forest officials.
The first attack on a human was reported in the Dergaon Rangdhali area.
ANI
On February 3, it attacked another civilian and two forest officials in the Dakshin Hengera area before moving to Borting Naosholia Kathoni area the next day.
Forest officials had unsuccessfully tried to chase the animal away.
ANI
Locals have alleged the district administration did not take appropriate measures to send the rhino back to Kaziranga National Park.
Lack of food likely reason for death
The cause of the rhino's death is still unclear, but forest staff suspected a lack of food availability may have killed it.
"We are just field staff. The rhino was roaming for five days and he might have faced a food crisis. A team of doctors has come from Kaziranga," a forest staff of Golaghat Saiful Rahman said.
The stray #rhino is most probably dead and I hold the insensitive crowd nd Golaghat Administration solely responsible for it.Forest Officials tried to save it from public atrocities but ?@GolaghatPolice? did not co-operate.I demand punitive action.?@himantabiswa? sir pic.twitter.com/Lc4fODbCcK
¡ª Mrinal Saikia (@Mrinal_MLA) February 6, 2023
The veterinary doctor of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari near the Kaziranga National Park said that the cause of death of the rhino will come to the fore after the post-mortem reports arrive.
Second rhino death this year
Last month another rhino was found dead in Manas National Park, after an infight.
The rhino that was found dead on January 29 was brought to Manas from Kaziranga National Park in 2014 as part of a reintroduction programme.
The first rhino death of the year in Assam. However, poachers did not kill him. One of them died in a fight between two male rhinos in Manas National Park. This rhino was brought from Kaziranga National Park in 2014. pic.twitter.com/01JTCkVjTu
¡ª Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi (@NANDANPRATIM) January 29, 2023
Kaziranga is the largest home of the one-horned rhino which is listed as 'Vulnerable' by IUCN.
There are an estimated 2,895 rhinos in the Assma, with 2,613 of them in the Kaziranga National Park.
AFP/ Representational Image
No rhinos poached in 2022
Poaching, for their horns, has been the biggest threat to the rhinos in Kaziranga.
In January, it was reported that no rhino was poached at Kaziranga, Manas, Orang national parks and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in 2022.
This was the first time in 45 years, there was no rhino poaching in Assam in a year.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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