By IANS
Kaziranga (Assam) : Poachers killed an endangered one-horned rhino at the Kaziranga National Park, taking the toll of the giant pachyderms slaughtered so far this year to 17.
A wildlife official said Thursday that the park rangers recovered the carcass Wednesday from near the Bagori range of the park, 220 km east from Guwahati, the state’s main city.
“The poachers used automatic weapons to kill the full-grown female rhino and then took away its horn,” park director S.N. Buragohain told IANS. The park warden said a group of about five poachers was involved.
“Local villagers residing along the periphery of the park later told us they saw the five poachers carrying rifles and other weapons passing through the area.
“The villagers thought they were tribal militants and so were scared to challenge them,” Buragohain said. This is the first time in a decade that the number of rhinos killed in a year has touched the double-digit figure inside the 430 sq km park.
As per latest figures, some 1,855 one-horned rhinos roam in Kaziranga, out of an estimated 2,700 all over the world. Ironically, the large number in the park makes the giant mammals a favourite target for poachers.
“We are trying our best to check poaching and have killed three poachers and arrested six others so far this year,” the warden said.
“We need more forest guards. Poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe has aphrodisiac qualities, besides being used as medicines for curing fever, stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of South Asia and East 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 — rhino horn sells for up to Rs.1.5 million per kg in the international market after the horns are smuggled to China or sold in other clandestine Asian markets.