Weer neushoorn gedood en van hoorn en oren ontdaan in Kaziranga National Park (India) - Al vijf neushoorns dit jaar door stropers in wildpark gedood

Poachers kill rhino, take horn

25-02-2010 A STAFF REPORTER, The Telegraph, India


Guwahati, Feb. 24: Poachers struck again last night at Kaziranga National Park, killing a rhino and taking away its horn. This is the fifth rhino to fall to poachers at Kaziranga this year. Three of these incidents took place outside the park, when the rhinos strayed out in search of food or to avoid infighting.

Last night’s killing comes barely a week after the All Assam Students Union had staged a dharna in front of the Kaziranga director’s office demanding adequate measures to stop the rampant killing of rhinos at the national park.

Last year, 14 rhinos fell prey to the poachers’ bullets at the world heritage site.

The carcass of the female rhino was found this morning at Mihimukh near the Benga anti-poaching camp. An axe used to gouge out the horn was found at the incident site. The ears of the rhino were also missing.

The poachers crossed the battery-operated electric fence erected in that particular portion of the national park and shot the rhino dead.

“There are several villages located near the area and the electric fence has been erected to prevent the animals from crossing over. Yet the poachers managed to cross over the fence and killed the rhino,” a forest official said.

The Mihimukh-Diring Chapori link road, which used by villagers residing on the vicinity of the park, runs near the area from where the carcass was recovered.

“We are sure that a few villagers are involved in the killing of the rhino. Without the villagers’ knowledge it is almost impossible to kill a rhino in this particular area,” the official said.

He said forest guards heard gunshots late last night and immediately launched an operation but failed to locate the poacher or the rhino carcass.
“We found the carcass this morning. The horn was missing,” he said.

(Bron: http://www.telegraphindia.com/)