Battle to Save Life of Rhino After Poachers Shoot the Animal

Veterinarians struggled last Wednesday to save the life of a rare rhinoceros that was shot and had the horn cut off by poachers after wandering out of a flooded national park in northeastern India. Much of the 480-square-kilometer Kaziranga National Park was also flooded, drowning two rhinos and at least a dozen other animals, mostly deer, said Suresh Chand, Assam’s chief wildlife warden. Many other animals migrated to higher ground. The rhino was one of them, leaving the park for a highland across a busy highway, where trailing guards lost track of the animal said Chand. The attack on the one-horned rhino sparked outrage in the state of Assam, home to the world’s largest concentration of the rare rhinos. Footage of the bleeding rhino with the horn removed and a cut to the ear was broadcast on local television. The rhino was shot by poachers, who sawed off the horn while the animal was still alive. Rhino horn powder is coveted in some Asian countries as a medicine or an aphrodisiac and its popularity has led to a rise in rhino poaching. Veterinarians were rushed to the rhino’s side to try to save the animal’s life, Chand said. An estimated 2,500 out of the world’s 3,000 one-horned rhinos live in Kaziranga. A total of 13 have been killed by poachers around the park in the past nine months, a trend that has caused worry among environmental groups. It has been said that the existence of organized poaching syndicates has only been proved by Wednesday’s gruesome incident.