There was much uproar in the conservation sector when a rhino devoid of its horn was found in the Dumaria lake of the Park on February 3.
Angered by seeing the state of the rhino, locals had locked up the National Park office. "Even if the horn was cut off, we will do our best to save the rhino," the park officials had said then to calm the public. But they failed to save it and the beast eventually died on February 13.
A group of Park officials found a wounded rhino on March 28, when they followed gunshot sounds on March 27 night.
"Let´s not expect the rhino to survive. We should be happy that they (the poachers) were not able to take the horn," said Buddhiraj Pathak, deputy conservation officer of the park. Just as Pathak had predicted, the rhino died six days later.
"It is almost impossible to extract bullets from a rhino´s body and unless the bullet is taken out, a wounded rhino is sure to die," he had said.
What the officials could do during the six days was just apply antiseptics on the wounds. According to Dr Kamal Gaire, a veterinary doctor with the Park, five rhinos had died in the past even if the bullet had already left the body. Dr Gaire says that most of the rhinos injured by the poachers have not survived.
As an injured rhino stops grazing totally, Dr Gaire feels that most rhinos die of lack of nutrition after getting injured.
"Small animals can be given intravenous fluids but rhinos can´t be given nutrition in such a way as they are huge and violent," said Dr Gaire. He said the Park lacked proper health care facilities to treat injured big-sized animals.
While there were 544 rhinos in Chitwan National Park nine years ago, the latest data say there are only 408 rhinos.
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