Somewhere in Kaziranga....

A rhino and a tiger were found dead in Kaziranga, barely a fortnight after the national park suffered three casualties. With the latest deaths, the tiger toll has reached 12 since November 2008 while the rhino toll has risen to six this year alone. The rhino carcass, with its horn missing, was found floating in a water body in the Bagori forest range. The animal was fished out from near Bimoli camp of Bagori range. The carcass of a female tiger was retrieved from the Mikirjan area in the Kohra forest range of the park. Preliminary investigations revealed that the tiger was suspected to be poisoned by villagers residing on the park fringes. The postmortem report is awaited. Park officials said poachers were not directly involved in the latest rhino death. ‘‘This is not a case of poaching as no bullet or any other injury marks were found on the body during examination. The rhino was old and might have died of age. Its carcass was found inside the core area where poachers don’t tread. Hunters generally target rhinos when they come out of the core area,’’ DFO D D Gogoi said.