Female rhino killed with spear near Assam's Kaziranga, villager arrested

Guwahati: Police have arrested a villager who had recently attacked a one-horned rhino that strayed with a spear leading to its death, near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. 

The female rhino, aged about 30 years, strayed out of the park in search of food recently. 

Director of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve Sonali Ghosh said Naren Saikia, a 47-year-old resident of Lokhorakhonia village situated near the park, had sprayed a spear on the rhino on November 24 evening when it ventured into the area. The carcass of the rhino was found on Thursday by forest personnel near the Teteliguri anti-poaching camp inside the park, which is situated about one kilometre away.

"A search was carried out by the forest staff by using drones and elephant patrolling and the carcass was detected at around 2.30 pm on Thursday," said a statement issued by Ghosh. 

Saikia was arrested on November 26 and was remanded to judicial custody.

"The post-mortem suggested that the death of the rhino was caused due to the injury on its left flank back and rear portion of the stomach with a deep penetration of the weapon (spear) across skin and ribs. Further samples have been collected for DNA analysis," said the statement. 

The rhino census in 2022 found 2,613 rhinos in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, a Unesco World Heritage site and Assam's biggest tourist attraction. 

Straying of rhinos, elephants, tigers and other wild animals to the fringe villages, however, has led to many incidents of human-animal conflicts. Several persons have been injured by wild animals while the villagers resorted to violent means to tackle the animal attack.