A female rhino was injured near Kaziranga National Park in Central Assam after a guard of the Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF), tracking the rhino, fired at random to scare away the animal which had attacked him.
The incident took place on late Thursday evening at Jagadamba Tea Estate located close to the national park on the borders of Nagaon and Karbi Anglong district.
“A female rhino and a calf had strayed outside the park due to the floods. The rhino and the calf moved towards the Jagadamba Tea Estate, which is notorious for poaching. We had engaged two personnel from the AFPF to track the rhinos so that the poachers could not take advantage of the situation and harm the animals,” said a senior park official while talking to The Pioneer on Friday.
“However, the two AFPF personnel went too close to the pair, resulting in the female rhino charging at them. While one of the guards managed to escape, another fired at random to scare the animal away. Unfortunately, one of the bullets hit the animal,” said the park official.
“Our team, including senior veterinarians has tracked the injured animal and efforts are on to tend to its injuries.
“However, the veterinarians have not been able to tranquilize the animal today and we have suspended the operation due to lack of daylight,” he said adding that the rescue operation will resume on Saturday morning.
It may be mentioned here that 80 per cent areas of the Kaziranga National Park, an UNESCO world heritage site, have already been flooded forcing many of the animals to migrate to the nearby hills and higher grounds in Karbi Anong district.
According to the records of the park authorities a total of 19 hog deer in the park have died so far due to the current wave of floods.
While 12 of them have drowned, seven of them died after being hit by vehicles while trying to cross the NH37 that bifurcates the park.