Poachers armed with AK-47 rifles riddled an adult male rhinoceros with bullets at Kaziranga National Park late on Wednesday and took away its horn, just 30 km from where Prince William and Kate Middleton were staying. They possibly exploited the fact that wardens had taken their gaze off the endangered animals to focus on the UK royals.
The killing took place at 11.10 pm while the royal couple was spending the night at a riverside lodge, adjacent to the national park. A rhino's horn fetches Rs.5 lakh in the local market and goes up to Rs.20 lakh by the time it's used as aphrodisiac in China and Vietnam. Seven rhinos have been killed in Kaziranga this year; 17 had been killed in 2015. Only on Tuesday, forest officials had briefed Prince William and Kate Middleton at Kaziranga's Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation on how the forest wardens deal with poachers.The rhino that was killed was shot inside the Burapahar forest range, adjoining the Bagori forest range where the royal couple had gone on a two-hour jeep safari on Wednesday morning. “The use of certain firearms, including M4 carbines, point to the involvement of militants from the adjoining Karbi Anglong district,“ park authorities said. “As many as 88 empty AK-47 cartridges were found at the spot,“ Kaziranga divisional forest officer Suvashish Das said.Kaziranga is home to a little over 2,000 rare one-horned rhinos. Last Saturday, poachers injured a rhino and hacked off its horn while the animal was still alive. It later died.
The killing took place at 11.10 pm while the royal couple was spending the night at a riverside lodge, adjacent to the national park. A rhino's horn fetches Rs.5 lakh in the local market and goes up to Rs.20 lakh by the time it's used as aphrodisiac in China and Vietnam. Seven rhinos have been killed in Kaziranga this year; 17 had been killed in 2015. Only on Tuesday, forest officials had briefed Prince William and Kate Middleton at Kaziranga's Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation on how the forest wardens deal with poachers.The rhino that was killed was shot inside the Burapahar forest range, adjoining the Bagori forest range where the royal couple had gone on a two-hour jeep safari on Wednesday morning. “The use of certain firearms, including M4 carbines, point to the involvement of militants from the adjoining Karbi Anglong district,“ park authorities said. “As many as 88 empty AK-47 cartridges were found at the spot,“ Kaziranga divisional forest officer Suvashish Das said.Kaziranga is home to a little over 2,000 rare one-horned rhinos. Last Saturday, poachers injured a rhino and hacked off its horn while the animal was still alive. It later died.
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