By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Kaziranga (Assam) : Two endangered one-horned rhinos were killed by poacher gangs after the beasts fled a flooded wildlife sanctuary in Assam, taking the toll of the pachyderms slaughtered this year to 12.
Wildlife official said the latest killings were reported late Monday from near the Kaziranga National Park, 220 km east of the state’s main city of Guwahati.
Floodwaters have submerged the entire 430 sq km park drowning 11 animals, most of them deer and wild boars. Besides, speeding trucks have killed seven hog deer while the animals were trying to cross over a highway for taking shelter in an adjoining hill.
“The two rhinos killed were among hundreds of animals that have fled the sanctuary to take shelter in highlands and some strayed away to nearby human settlement areas making them vulnerable to poachers,” park warden S.N. Buragohain told IANS.
The poachers took away the horns after killing the rhinos with silencer-fitted carbines.
Poachers have been able to take advantage with the park hit by ravaging floods and an acute staff shortage.
“It is physically impossible to protect the animals during high floods; and when the wildlife strays out of the park poachers often kill their prey unchallenged,” the warden said.
About 18 animals, including deer and elephant calves, were rescued by wildlife rangers from the flooded park and are now sheltered in an animal care home close to the park.
This is the first time in a decade that the number of rhinos killed in a year has touched the double digit. As per latest figures, some 1,855 of the world’s estimated 2,700 such herbivorous beasts lumber around the wilds of the park – their numbers ironically making the giant mammals a favourite target for poaching.
“We are trying our best to check poaching and have killed three poachers and arrested six others so far this year,” the warden said.
Organised poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe contain aphrodisiac qualities, besides being used as medicines for curing fever, stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of South Asia. Rhino horn is also much fancied by buyers from the Middle East who turn them into handles of ornamental daggers, while elephant ivory tusks are primarily used for making ornaments and decorative items.
Profits in the illegal rhino horn trade are staggering as it sells for up to Rs.1.5 million (approx $37,000) per kg in the international market after they are smuggled to China or sold in other clandestine Asian markets.
“There is an increased demand for the horn in the international market and hence the sudden spurt in rhino poaching,” Buragohain said.
The fresh incidents of poaching come at a time when park authorities believed the endangered one-horned rhinos were charging back from the brink of extinction.
Five rhinos were poached last year, while seven were killed in 2005. According to government estimates, poachers have killed about 500 of the beasts in the past two decades.