After zero cases of rhinoceros poaching were recorded in Assam in 2022, the first such case this year was reported Sunday evening.
According to an official of Kaziranga National Park, the carcass of a rhino was found by the staff at the park’s western range of Bagori at around 4.30 pm on Sunday. The mutilation on the carcass makes it evident that it was killed by a poacher. “There was a cut mark in the nasal bone of the rhino and the horn was taken away by miscreants. It is evident that the rhino was killed by a poacher six-seven days ago,” said the official.
“The sex of the rhino is yet to be ascertained as the carcass is floating in water. Details can be revealed after the receipt of post-mortem reports. Investigation is on to track the poachers,” he added.
Earlier this year, the fact that no rhinos had been poached in Assam in 2022 was a cause for celebration in the state. While a carcass without a horn was found on January 20, based on its state of decay, it was concluded that it had been killed in 2021.
The case reported on Sunday is the first recorded case of rhino poaching in the state this year.
A census conducted in March 2022 had counted 2,613 rhinos in Kaziranga at the time. Through the course of 2022, 48 rhino deaths were recorded and were attributed to ‘natural causes’ such as old age, illness and attacks by tigers.
In records maintained by Kaziranga officials dating back to 1995, there have been cases of poaching recorded every single year till 2022. Since 2000, this peaked in 2017 and 2018, when 27 rhinos were poached each year. Since then, the numbers have been dropping from 17 and 18 in 2015 and 2016, respectively, to 6, 7 and 3 in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.
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In June 2021, the Assam Government constituted an Anti-Poaching Task Force headed by Special DGP (Law and Order) Assam Police GP Singh and comprising senior police and forest department officials.
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