Rhino found dead in Assam’s Kaziranga; officials suspect killed in tiger attack

Tigers and other animals mostly attack rhinos when they are vulnerable as sometimes, during mating, old female rhinos get injured and in a few cases, their backbone gets broken, said officials

Silchar: The forest officials of Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam on Saturday found a carcass of a full-grown one-horned rhinoceros, suspecting that the rhino might have been killed in the attack by tigers.

(Representative Photo)

Officials said that the carcass was found near Mona Beel in the Kohora range of Kaziranga.

KNP and Tiger Reserve director Sonali Ghosh on Sunday said that they reached the spot after getting information and recovered the dead body.

“In the initial observation, it is clear that the rhino was killed by tigers but to confirm, we have sent the carcass for postmortem. The horn of the dead rhino was intact, which suggests that this was not a poaching case,” she said.

Ghosh said that such killings in wildlife are common, and the tigers target mostly calves. However, the rhinos also get killed in some instances.

According to officials, there has been an increase in tiger populations in Kaziranga and other parts of Assam.

Tigers and other animals mostly attack rhinos when they are vulnerable as sometimes, during mating, old female rhinos get injured and in a few cases, their backbone gets broken, said officials.

Officials said the wildlife is coming back to normalcy in Kaziranga and such killings are part of nature’s circle.

“The activities of poachers have reduced due to strict actions taken by the government and as a result, rhinos and other animals are safer in Assam forests,” an official said.