10 May 2020




Poachers have killed a rhino in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park with an AK-47 assault rifle and taken the animal’s horn, striking after a gap of more than 13 months, forest department officials said on Sunday.

Discovery of eight empty shells of an AK-47 assault rifle at the spot where the rhino’s carcass was found have led forest officials to suspect the role of some local insurgent groups, who are in possession of such sophisticated arms.

This is the first instance of rhino poaching in Kaziranga this year. There was no instance of poaching the 430 sq km park since April 1, 2019, and it had recorded three poaching deaths last year.

“The carcass of the adult male rhino was found by our personnel on Saturday evening at the Agaratoli range of the park with its horn missing.

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