GUWAHATI, June 30 (IANS): A one-horned female rhino has been killed in the Orang National Park in Assam. The suspected poachers took away its horn, forest officials said on Thursday. "The carcass of a female rhino was recovered on Thursday and the horn was missing," a forest official said. The poachers seem to have killed the rhino on June 27.
The forest guards reportedly heard gunshots in the park that day. But a search operation revealed nothing then.
This is the 10th one-horned rhino to be killed in Assam since January and the third after a BJP-led government took charge in the state.
The poachers killed two rhinos at the Kaziranga National Park earlier this month. One rhino was killed when Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma was camping in the park.
Although Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had personally taken up the matter, the poachers appear to be operating with impunity.
