Poachers kill male rhino in Kaziranga

Jorhat: Poachers killed an adult male rhino and chopped off its horn at Kaziranga National Park on Sunday.
Park officials said poachers shot dead the rhino with AK 47 rifles and cut off its horn before forest staff could reach the spot. The incident took place near Kathalchang anti-poaching camp in Burapahar forest range at the park around 3.30 am on Sunday.Forest staff launched an operation to nab the poachers but in vain.
“Poachers killed the rhino and chopped off its horn near Kothalchang anti-poaching camp in Burapahar forest range this (Sunday) morning. We launched a search operation in the entire forest range to nab the gang but they managed to escape under the cover of darkness. Our staff found some blank cartridges of AK 47 rifles from the spot,” said divisional forest officer (Kaziranga) S K Seal Sharma.
This is the second incident of rhino killing by poachers in the first four days of the new year. On January 1, forest staff foiled an attempt to kill a rhino in the park’s Bagori forest range when they killed two poachers near Amkathani anti-poaching camp around 2 am. According to park authorities, there were seven poachers in the gang but the others managed to escape. A .303 rifle was found at the spot. On Wednesday, poachers killed a female rhino at Rajiv Gandhi Orang National park.