With Kaziranga National Park, home to the largest number of one-horned rhinos in the world, getting maximum attention for conservation and protection, poachers have shifted focus to Orang National Park in northern Assam. As this 78.82 sq km park faces a shortage of manpower and equipment, poachers have managed to kill at least three rhinos this year.

“Poaching is definitely Orang’s most important problem, especially with the park having very dense human habitation on its western, northern and eastern boundaries,” said park director S Momin. While poachers on Saturday killed a full-grown female rhino and ran away with its horn, Momin’s men along with the police managed to nab two members of the gang responsible for the crime.

The two accused, identified as Harmuj Ali and Paokhan Thanga, were arrested from a bus bound for Dimapur in Nagaland on Sunday. They have admitted to having killed the rhino. Thanga is said to be a sharp-shooter.

“The two persons have admitted that they had killed the rhino on Sunday evening. We are, however, yet to recover the rhino horn,” the park director said over telephone from Orang. One US-made pistol, a 12-bore rifle and a sizeable amount of ammunition have been seized from Ali’s house.

The national park has lost at least 19 rhinos in the past four and a half years. “We had as many as 98 rhinos during the 1991 census. The figure, however, came down sharply to 46 in a span of eight years, with most of the deaths caused by poachers,” Momin said.

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