Guwahati: After a brief lull, one more rhino was killed by the poachers in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park. According to forest officials, the poachers had sawed off the animal’s horn and took it away. They said the carcass was retrieved from the Balipukhuri forest of the park’s Agoratali range on Friday.
The forest guards had heard gunshots on Wednesday night and subsequently, carried out a search but got nothing. This is the fifteenth rhino to have fallen prey to the bullets of poachers in Kaziranga so far
this year. Statewide, the figure is 18.
The state’s Forest Minister Pramila Rabi Brahma had rushed to the park on Friday on learning about the incident. “It is a very unfortunate incident. We thought the series of measures, which we have put in place, would help thwart the attempts of poachers but they still managed kill the rhino,” she told Express.
A section of the poachers is from Nagaland. The Assam Police say the horns are smuggled through
Nagaland and into the South East Asian countries.
During a meeting with his Nagaland counterpart TR Zeliang at Kaziranga on Monday, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had highlighted these issues and sought the cooperation of the neighbouring state.
“We primarily raised two issues – the involvement of Naga poachers in the killing of rhinos in Assam
and the smuggling of the horns via Nagaland. Let’s see what they do,” the Assam Forest Minister said.
Over 250 rhinos have been killed by the poachers in Assam since 2001. The animal is killed for its
horn, considered an aphrodisiac. A rhino horn is sold at Rs 1 crore in the international black market.
According to Assam Police, the poachers also include a section of the militants. Apart from the one-
horned rhinos, the 429-sq km Kaziranga National Park is home to large breeding populations of
elephants, tigers, wild water buffalos, swamp deer etc.