Poachers today killed a rhino and removed its horn at the Kaziranga National Park, forest officials said today.
The adult male rhino was killed by poachers last night when it was roaming in the northern range of the Park at Panpurghat under Jamugurihat Police Station of Sonitpur district, Divisional Forest Officer A K Dey said.
When villagers found the dead rhino in a water body inside the Park, they informed forest officials, Dey said.
This is the second incident of killing of a rhino this month.
Poachers had shot at and seriously injured a rhino on January 8 in Bihpukhuri area of the Park and the pachyderm died the next day.
Police arrested two poachers on January 13 in that connection and seized a rhino horn weighing 800 gm from them.
Last year, poachers had killed 42 rhinos in the state.
Rhino horn is highly valued across the world for its so-called aphrodisiac qualities and is used in traditional medicine in Asia. Demand for rhino horns has skyrocketed in recent years leading to drastic decline in the population of the shy animal.
