Disturbing details have emerged about the recent death of a rhino in India’s Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary.
Now that a postmortem exam has confirmed that last week’s death of a greater one-horned rhino inside Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary was due to a poacher’s bullet, inexperienced forest guards are suspected of trying to cover up the incident.
Rhino death timeline
The first reports of the dead rhino in Jaldapara began to circulate on Oct. 10, when forest guards noted that a male rhino had been “seriously injured in fighting” and subsequently fell into the Torsha river and drowned.
However, on Oct. 11, a different story started to take shape via the Times of India after a postmortem exam revealed a bullet had been lodged in the male rhino’s head, between his ear and jaw. In addition, the carcass of a female rhino was found in the forest, with a deep wound on her leg.
TOI also reported that just prior to the male rhino’s death, villagers – and forest staff – pelted the mortally wounded animal with rocks to scare him back into the forest.
As the confused rhino darted out, it stumbled and the forest officials reportedly fired a tranquilizer at it. The rhino tried to get up, lost its footing and fell into the fast-flowing river.
The article said that forest staff denied the charge and one staff member claimed that they had instead attempted to treat the rhino.
An additional report in The Telegraph (India) on Oct. 11 told yet another version of the story.
On Friday, when The Telegraph caught up with the rhino in Chilapata forest, maggots had been crawling on the wound which forest officers at first refused to admit was the result of bullet injury.
The male rhino had come out of Jaldapara on Thursday and had been roaming in the Chilapata area, 26km from here. Yesterday, it was tranquillised so that the wound could be treated. But after regaining senses, the rhino fell into the Torsha and died after it was washed down for 500 metres.
Programme coordinator of the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, Animesh Bose, added a tragic detail to the incident.
We have information that the rhino was shot almost a week ago and it had been roaming in the forest without being detected by the forest patrols.
Forest officials ‘on holiday’
Just yesterday, another twist was revealed when Times of India reported that senior forest officials were on holiday when the poaching incident occurred – and the care of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary was left in the hands of a “new recruit with little experience in North Bengal.”
The results were obvious: with senior officers away, the monitoring of junior staff and patrolling suffered over the past few days, claimed local environmental organizations. Well aware of this crucial gap in vigil, poachers shot the bull rhino, which stumbled out of the forest and drowned in the Torsha river after allegedly being chased by local villagers and some forest staff on Saturday morning.
According to the Indian Express, India’s Government Employees Federation (which includes forest officials) is demanding that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conduct an inquiry into the rhino’s death.
The federation, with a large number of forest officials, demanded the resignation of the state forest minister and principal chief conservator of forest.
Villagers helping poachers
Since 1996, all of the rhino killed by poachers in Jaldapara have been found near the Mendabari and Kodalbustee areas, in the Chilapata range. There are several villages located in this region, in close proximity to the forest, and it is believed that these villagers cooperate with poachers to help them kill rhino inside the sanctuary.
Conclusion?
A crowd of people pelting a mortally wounded animal with rocks?
Forest “officials” shooting an injured rhino with a tranquilizer gun – next to a river?
A rhino wandering the sanctuary for a week with a bullet lodged in his head?
One thing is clear about the death of this animal: Somebody really screwed up. Big time.
Image source: flickr.com/pankaj/ / CC BY-ND 2.0
Dead Rhino in Jaldapara: What Really Happened? by Rhishja Larson originally published October 18, 2009 on EcoWorldly.
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