Now, rhino killed in Orang, poachers take away horn

From our Correspondent

MANGALDAI, June 30: After a long gap of 18 months, poachers struck at Orang tiol Park (ONP) again, killing a rhino before taking away its horn.

The adult female rhino was killed at the Old Orang camp of the Park.

According to Divisiol Forest Officer of Mangaldai Wildlife Division, Sunnydeo Choudhary, forest guards on the evening of June 27 heard a single gunshot of a silencer-fitted firearm and they immediately launched a search operation which continued for the second and third day.

On Thursday morning, the carcass of the dead rhino with a single bullet injury on its body was recovered near the camp. However, the poachers succeeded in taking away the horn. The local veteriry surgeon today carried out the post mortem examition while forest guards are continuing the search operation for recovering the ammunitions used in poaching and to trace out the poachers.

The park - the only habitat of the one-horned rhino on the northern bank of Brahmaputra - has witnessed poaching of 22 rhinos since 2008, while 16 rhinos have died of tural cause.

There were no cases of poaching in the park since 2015.