Express News Service
GUWAHATI: A man in Assam has been arrested by the police for killing a one-horned rhinoceros with a spear. The accused, Naren Saikia (47), is now in judicial custody. The adult female rhino, which strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve, was attacked on November 24, and the carcass was discovered on November 30.
This incident marks the first time a rhino has been killed in the state in such a manner. In a statement, the park described the “hunting” of the animal with a spear as bizarre. “As per the sequence of events on November 24, around 8:30 pm, the key accused Naren Saikia, a resident of Lokhorakhonia, threw a spear at the rhino that had ventured into the area,” the statement said.
It added that, based on intelligence gathered by Divisional Forest Officer Arun Vignesh and his team, Saikia was arrested and sent to judicial custody on November 26. While the accused was arrested, there was no trace of the rhino despite searches. Eventually, a combing operation carried out with a drone helped detect the carcass on Thursday at 2:30 pm near the park’s Teteliguri anti-poaching camp. The post-mortem was conducted on Friday.
The rhino, estimated to be 20-30 years old, died due to an injury inflicted on the left side of the stomach with deep penetration of the spear across the skin and ribs. “Further samples have been collected for DNA analysis and for RhoDIS (Rhino DNA Index System) and shall be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India. The horn was intact and recovered as per the standard procedure by departmental staff for safe custody,” the statement said. This is the second incident of the killing of a Kaziranga rhino this year. The first incident took place on January 1. Follow channel on WhatsApp
GUWAHATI: A man in Assam has been arrested by the police for killing a one-horned rhinoceros with a spear. The accused, Naren Saikia (47), is now in judicial custody. The adult female rhino, which strayed out of the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve, was attacked on November 24, and the carcass was discovered on November 30.
This incident marks the first time a rhino has been killed in the state in such a manner. In a statement, the park described the “hunting” of the animal with a spear as bizarre. “As per the sequence of events on November 24, around 8:30 pm, the key accused Naren Saikia, a resident of Lokhorakhonia, threw a spear at the rhino that had ventured into the area,” the statement said.
It added that, based on intelligence gathered by Divisional Forest Officer Arun Vignesh and his team, Saikia was arrested and sent to judicial custody on November 26. While the accused was arrested, there was no trace of the rhino despite searches. Eventually, a combing operation carried out with a drone helped detect the carcass on Thursday at 2:30 pm near the park’s Teteliguri anti-poaching camp. The post-mortem was conducted on Friday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The rhino, estimated to be 20-30 years old, died due to an injury inflicted on the left side of the stomach with deep penetration of the spear across the skin and ribs. “Further samples have been collected for DNA analysis and for RhoDIS (Rhino DNA Index System) and shall be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India. The horn was intact and recovered as per the standard procedure by departmental staff for safe custody,” the statement said. This is the second incident of the killing of a Kaziranga rhino this year. The first incident took place on January 1. Follow channel on WhatsApp
