Shot seven times, rhino dies

Jorhat, Feb 9 : A rhino died of its injuries late last night after it was shot and wounded by a group of poachers at Gopaljarani under Gohpur police station in Sonitpur district.

The rhino, which is believed to have strayed out of Kaziranga National Park, had attacked and injured a policeman yesterday.

In another incident, a boy, who was attacked by a rhino on January 14 morning in a village near Kaziranga, died of his injures at the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh early this morning.

Sonitpur (East) divisional forest officer Amrit Das told The Telegraph that the male rhino, which had entered Gopaljarani village with seven gunshot injuries, died late last night.

The forest department removed the horn of the adult rhino.

The DFO said the group of poachers had chased away the animal from Kaziranga on Monday morning and the animal had crossed over the Brahmaputra and entered Bartamuly on the north bank of the river under Gohpur.

He said after getting information on the incident, a joint team of forest and police personnel rushed to the site and prevented the poachers from attacking the rhino and taking away its horn.

Das said the encounter between the poachers and the team lasted for some time after which the poachers fled into thick bushes in the chaporis (sand bars) in the area.

The team conducted a search but could not apprehend the poachers.

The critically injured rhino fled to Gopaljarani village in the afternoon and drew the people’s attention, who came out in large numbers.

A police party along with forest staff reached the village to control the animal, the DFO said.

Mousam Baruah, a personal security officer of the Gohpur sub-divisional police officer, was injured when he was trying to control the crowd and came before the charging rhino.

On January 3 this year, a seven-year-old girl, Kunti Mahali, was injured after being attacked by a rhino that strayed out of the park and entered her residence at Bogorijuri.

On Sunday, a female rhino chased and gored homeguard Nitul Dutta to death in the park.

He, along with two other forest guards from the Mahkhuti camp, was on a routine anti-poaching patrol duty on foot.

On January 14, Salim Ahmed, a ranger of Orang National Park, was seriously injured when he was attacked by a rhino at Islampur, nearly 7km from the park. He was trying to chase the animal away.