Kamrup: A 37-year-old man was chased and mauled to death by a rhino near the Pobitra Wildlife Sanctuary in the Morigaon district of Assam on Sunday. A passerby caught the dramatic encounter on camera while people tried to intervene but were too scared to go near the animal.
The victim has been identified as Saddam Hussain, a resident of Kamrup Metropolitan district, around 30 kilometers away from the incident spot. The video showed the man, travelling on a motorcycle, approached by the rhino who reportedly breached the perimeter of the wildlife sanctuary.
The man is then seen abandoning his vehicle and running away from the road, into an open field while being chased by the rhino, which can pace up to 55 kilometres per hour in speed.
Locals were heard shouting in an attempt to scare off a rhino, which can weigh as much as 2,800 kilograms. Tragically, Hussain was later found dead in a field, his head fatally injured.
“The rhino came from the wildlife sanctuary. We are investigating the matter,” a forest official told ANI.
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the suburbs of Assam’s capital, Guwahati, is known for having the highest density of one-horned rhinos in India. Recent data released on World Rhino Day revealed that India’s population of one-horned Asian rhinos has nearly tripled in the last four decades. The population has grown from 1,500 to over 4,000 during this time.
An adult Indian rhino, the largest of the three Asian species, can live up to 50 years. Kaziranga National Park, also in Assam, is home to approximately 80 per cent of the world’s one-horned rhinos.
Kaziranga is the most significant sanctuary for the one-horned rhinoceros, holding around 80% of the global population. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its conservation efforts and natural beauty. It is home to approximately 2,613 rhinos, according to statistics till 2022.
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