Bleeding Rhino Found in Assam’s Orang National Park With Horn Cut-Off

May 16, 2022 by Monika Thakur in Animals

Assam’s Forest and Wildlife Department faces another challenge to protect rhinoceros in the state after finding a new case of poachers tranquilizing a rhino to remove its horn

Recently, a semi-adult rhinoceros was found bleeding with no horn in the Orang National Park, Assam. According to the state forest and wildlife department, it’s a clear case of poaching attacks on poor animals. The cruel poachers first tranquilised the rhino, removed its horn, and then left it injured in the marshland of the national park. Later, the bleeding rhino without its horn was spotted by the area’s elephant patrol team.

It’s not the first time the state has experienced a poaching attack on the animals. There have been several cases of poaching, particularly in the Kaziranga National Park. Usually, the poachers remove the rhinos’ horns when they are alive and then kill them. But it’s the first time that poachers sawed off the horn without killing the rhino, but left it to die as it bled!

According to Kushal Konwar Sarma, an award-winning veterinarian, it’s not possible to tranquilise the rhino with ordinary tranquiliser darts, but there is one kind only available through a South African manufacturer that specializes in drugs for rhinos. But getting that tranquiliser to India has to come through various central government agencies and ministries. Hence, non-government officials can’t purchase it.

Bleeding Rhino in Assam’s Orang National Park With Horn Sawed Off

Image: BBC

Only Guwahati’s Assam State Zoo is the custodian of that particular tranquiliser drug. However, it’s kept locked and cannot be used without informing the Central government about its use. Moreover, it is not an easy task to tranquilise a rhino because it is a massive and aggressive animal. So, Sarma is not sure how poachers managed to remove its horn.

Throwing light on the matter, another wildlife expert mentioned that poachers may have immobilised the rhino with an electric shock. Or they may have spiked the foliage with some substance in the rhino’s feeding zone.

While the forest department is still figuring out how this incident happened, there’s a big challenge for them to protect these innocent wild animals. Given they are endangered species, it is imperative to safeguard these animals.