KATHMANDU: A female rhinoceros has been found dead on the bank of the Rewakhola stream at Madi area under the Chitwan National Park.
The dead body of the animal of around 10 years was spotted at 12 noon on Monday at a spot one and half kilometre to the south-east of the National Park’s Dhowa Post, Chief Conservation Officer Ananath Baral said.
He said an iron rod was found stuck in the rhino’s body. “We presume that the locals killed the animal with the rod when it was eating the rice in their rice field. We have initiated an investigation in this connection,” Baral said.
According to him, the rhino died due to the internal wound it suffered from the piercing of the rod. The rhino might have been attacked on Sunday. “It was alive at the time of trapping. We found it dead in the bush in the noon,” he said. The horn and hooves of the rhino are intact.
Eight rhinos have died due to various causes in Fiscal Year 2021/22. There are 694 rhinos in Chitwan National Park as per the national rhino census conducted in 2020.
