According to Chetrabikram Khad, Assistant Forest Officer at the Chitwan District Forest Office, the rhino was caught in the electric fence kept to ward off wild animals from entering banana plantations. [break]
“Since the horn and the hoofs were still intact on the carcass, it does not appear as a deed of a poacher. This seems an accident,” said Khad. “After the postmortem, we came to know that the rhino was pregnant,” added Khad.
In the course of preliminary investigation, the Forest Office has arrested a local suspected of trying to lure the rhino into the trap.
If convicted of poaching endangered animals like rhinoceros, the person can be kept behind bars for15 years and fined up to Rs 1,00,000.
There are total of 503 rhinos at the Chitwan National Park (CNP) and its adjoining forest areas.
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