14-Dec-09 6:15 PM CST

2 rhinos killed in Kaziranga- Stray rhino returns to Orang National Park after 4 days

Guwahati, Dec. 14: Two rhino carcasses were found at Kaziranga National Park — one inside the park this morning and the other on its outskirts yesterday.

One hornless rhino carcass was found near Dhuramari anti-poaching camp under Agoratoli range of Kaziranga this morning. Poachers are suspected to have killed the animal last night. The other carcass was found at Baghetapo on the outskirts of Kohora range yesterday.

Although the Kaziranga authorities denied that the rhino killed last night was a victim of poaching, sources said the carcass bore bullet injures.

“We heard gunshots in the area yesterday. There were clear marks of bullet injuries on the carcass and the horn had been chopped off. It is a case of poaching without any doubt,” a forest guard said. The carcass was found on the grassland about 100 metres away from a bridge between Sohola and Dhuramari anti-poaching camp, he added.

Kaziranga authorities denied permission to a group of journalists to enter the park to take picture of the carcass. Repeated attempts to contact divisional forest officer D. Gogoi failed.

The reporters and photographers then protested before Bokakhat sub-divisional officer Mridul Mahanta, threatening to boycott the forthcoming elephant festival if they were not allowed inside. The SDO later relented and deputed a magistrate to accompany them to the spot. However, the park’s director, S.N. Buragohain, overrode the SDO’s permission, saying the same would have to be taken from Dispur. He also cited security reasons as darkness had descended on the park by then.

The other rhino carcass was found at Baghetapo on the outskirts of Kohora range yesterday. Making a belated disclosure, official sources said this evening that the carcass of the male rhino bore marks of bullet injuries. The poachers, however, had failed to take away the horn. The rhino had strayed out of the park on Thursday.

Another rhino is also said to have strayed and was last seen on Saturday in the Numaligarh area, about 20km away, in Golaghat district.

In the meantime, the female rhino which had strayed about 60km away from Orang National Park on Friday, returned to its habitat in the wee hours today ending a four-day-long drama. “Our guards followed the rhino’s spoor and saw that it had entered the park through the Bhabapur boundary,” Orang divisional forest officer Shushil K. Daila said.

He said there was no doubt that the spoor was of this particular rhino as its trail was found on National Highway 52. “The rhino had crossed the national highway last night and entered the park via Kopati tea estate.” With the carcass found today, poachers have killed 12 rhinos in Kaziranga this year. They had killed 18 rhinos in 2007 and six in 2008.

Sources, however, said the figure of rhino poaching in the national park was much higher with the authorities “trying to hush up” these incidents by showing that the deaths were natural.

“There are many instances when rhinos are killed by poachers but the authorities show these as natural deaths. It is very difficult to locate the bullet inside a rhino carcass in the post-mortem. If the bullet/bullets are not found, the death is shown as natural,” a senior forest official said.

The silver lining for Kaziranga, however, is an impressive growth in rhino population. The census carried out this year found 2,048 rhinos in the park. It was roughly below 2,000 when the previous census was conducted about three years ago.

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Source: The Telegraph
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091215/jsp/northeast/story_11862811.jsp