Summary:
Shahjahanpur: A 15-year-old rhino named Bhimsen died due to infighting with another male in Kakraha area of Rhino Relocation Area -1 in South Sonaripur range of Dudhwa National Park on Friday.This is third rhino casualty in Dudhwa since December 2016, when 49-year-old rhino, Banke, succumbed to natural causes. The horn of the rhino is intact but there were injuries on its back and stomach, which may have caused its death. In May 2017, three-year-old Sehdev was killed by three tigers.The rhino is a Schedule One animal and listed as “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List of wildlife species.Deputy director of the park Mahaveer Kaujalgi told TOI, “Prima facie it looks like a case of infighting among the pachyderms but the post-mortem report will confirm the exact cause of death. The carcass was recovered in the afternoon in the enclosed area and its condition suggests that the rhino may have died anytime during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.”An autopsy of the rhino will be conducted on Saturday morning by a panel of doctors as per standard operating procedure and a detailed report will be provided after the post-mortem.Field director of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Ramesh Pandey has sought an expert veterinarian each from Lucknow Zoo and Bareilly-based Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) for the autopsy of the rhino..