West Bengal: Rhinoceros found dead with horn missing at Gorumara National Park
A forest officer said the carcass had a bullet injury and the animal is believed to have been poisoned or tranquillised.
An adult male rhinoceros was found dead with its horn missing on Tuesday at the Gorumara National Park West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, the Hindustan Times reported.
Divisional Forest Officer of Gorumara Nisha Goswami said the animal is believed to have been killed in the past 48 hours. “There was a bullet injury on the carcass and we suspect it was killed by either poisoning or by tranquillising,” Goswami said.
State Forest Minister Binay Krishna Barman said the cause of death is yet to be confirmed. “It could be that the rhino died due to old age or with some disease, while its horn was taken away by people in the locality.” Barman, however, did not rule out the possibility of poaching.
In April last year, the decomposed carcass of a rhinoceros was found at the national park and a day later, another carcass was found in the same area. In February, six people, including a sharpshooter from Arunachal Pradesh, were arrested for shooting dead an adult female rhino at Jaldapara National Park and chopping its horn off.