The National Park is a World Heritage Site, illegal hunters couldn't care less

Mar 24, 2014 13:07 GMT  ·  By

News from the state of Assam in India says that, in less than a week, the country's Kaziranga National Park lost a total of three rhinos to poachers operating in the region.

Thus, information made available to the public says that the three animals were killed within five days' time, and that they all had their horns chopped off.

According to Times of India, two of the rhinos were located and butchered by poachers sometime between last week's Wednesday and Thursday.

Their bodies were found by rangers in the Kaziranga National Park's Kohora forest range sometime after the killing had occurred.

The third rhino, on the other hand, is believed to have been killed sometime during the weekend.

Its body was recovered by rangers on Sunday, and, at the time when it was discovered, it was also missing its horn.

The somewhat good news is that, due to the fact that forest officials heard the gunshots fired by the poachers and reported to the area immediately, the illegal hunters failed to steal this third rhino's horn.

Specifically, it would appear that, in the aftermath of a clash with rangers in the Kaziranga National Park, the poachers decided to leave the animal body part behind and settle for simply making a getaway.

“In the gun-battle poachers left the bag behind. The encounter took place on the banks of the Brahmaputra,” a park official reportedly said in a statement.

“We also saw the poachers jumping into the river to escape gunfire. They also left behind a .303 rifle and six rounds of ammunition,” he went on to explain.

It is believed that poachers are especially active these days due to the fact that elections are upcoming in the region, and authorities are rather busy handling these affairs and therefore cannot monitor wildlife all that effectively.

Since the beginning of this year until present day, 11 rhinos have been killed by illegal hunters in the Kaziranga National Park. Last year, on the other hand, this World Heritage Site is believed to have lost 35 such animals to poachers.

As far as the state of Assam is concerned, conservationists and rangers say that the region has lost 12 rhinos so far this year. Back in 2013, however, a total of 40 rhinos were killed by poachers in this state in India.

More often than not, the horns collected from these animals are sold on the black market, and used to make either medicine or various trinkets.