A female rhino, which had strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, was shot dead by poachers in a tea garden today and its horn and nails taken away, a senior forest official said.
Forest guards in Dhundari camp in Burapahar Range of the Park heard gunshots early this morning and fired in the air before launching an operation in the area, Divisional Forest Officer Swapan Kumar Seal Sharma told PTI today.
The carcass of the rhino was found in the Amguri Tea Estate with its horn chopped off and nails taken away, Sharma said.
Eight empty cartridges of AK-47 and .303 bore rifles were found near the carcass, he said.
The rhino's two-year old calf ran away into the Park after seeing forest personnel, he added.
A massive joint operation by police and forest guards with sniffer dogs has been launched to track the poachers, officials said.
This is the second rhino killed this year, besides another injured by poachers so far in the 430-sq km World Heritage Site extending over Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts hosting two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses.
The first rhino, an adult male, was killed on January 17 and its horn removed by poachers in the Northern Range of the Park at Panpurghat under Jamugurihat police station of Sonitpur district.
Earlier on January 8 another rhino, which had strayed out of Kaziranga was shot at and seriously injured by poachers near Bihpukhuri in Bishwanath Chariali area of Sonitpur district.
Last year, poachers had killed 42 rhinos in the state.
