Rhino shot dead by poachers in India hours after royal visit
Source: The Guardian
Rhino shot dead by poachers in India hours after royal visit
Caroline Davies
Thursday 14 April 2016 14.38 BST
Poachers shot dead and de-horned a male rhino in India’s Kaziranga national park less than 10 hours after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed a jeep safari there during a visit to highlight conservation, Indian media has reported.
The royal couple visited Kaziranga in Assam and the nearby Centre of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) on Wednesday, and were staying around 12 miles (20km) away at the time of the incident at around 11.10pm.
“Our forest guards who rushed to the spot on hearing gunshots were engaged in an exchange of fire with the poachers, but the culprits managed to escape under the cover of darkness,” the Kaziranga divisional forest officer Subhashis Das told the Indian Express.
It is said to be the sixth rhino killed by poachers in the 480 sq km park this year.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/14/rhino-shot-dead-poachers-india-duke-duchess-cambridge