At a time when Britain’s Royal couple was spending their second night at a private resort, located close to the famous Kaziranga National Park, one rhino was on Wednesday night killed by poachers who got away with its horn in the park. It was this year’s seventh one-horned rhino killed by poachers amid Assam Government’s all-out efforts to show the bright side of wildlife conservation.
The poachers killed rhino in Burhapahar range of the park on Wednesday night, a senior park official said, adding that the poachers managed to get away with the horn.
The Kaziranga national park had been put under strict vigil since Tuesday in the wake of the two-day visit of Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton to the park. The Royal couple arrived in the national park on Tuesday evening and spent two nights before leaving for Bhutan on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday morning, the Royal couple undertook a jeep safari of the park and interacted with the anti-poaching staff of the park about poaching of rhinos and measures taken to stop the poaching. The couple had also visited the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near the park.
“A group of poachers had entered the park on Wednesday night and killed a rhino and took away its horn. Our guards launched an operation immediately after hearing gunshots from Burhapahar range. There were also heavy firing between the forest guards and poachers,” he said adding that the poachers, however, managed to kill the rhino and cut off the horn and escaped.
The poachers have used AK series rifle and about 105 empty cartridges of the AK rifles have been recovered from near the spot.