Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), March 4 A female rhinoceros was killed in a tiger attack in the Dudhwa tiger reserve on Wednesday, forest officials said.
The Field Director of the tiger reserve and Chief Conservator of Forests, Dr. H. Rajamohan, said that mahouts patrolling the Rhino Rehabilitation Area-1 (RRA-1) of the South Sonaripur range spotted a tiger climbing onto a rhino at the Amha water pool.
"The carcass was partially submerged in water, with visible injury marks caused by the tiger," he said.
After driving the tiger away, the patrolling team inspected the animal and found it dead.
The deceased rhino was identified as 'Rajeshwari' through its unique identification number, officials said.
Upon being informed, Dr. Rajamohan constituted a panel to examine the carcass and conduct a post-mortem to determine the exact cause of death.
He said the panel confirmed that the rhino was a female and that it had died due to injuries sustained in the tiger attack. The carcass was disposed of according to standard operating procedures after the post-mortem, he added.
The Dudhwa tiger reserve currently houses around 40 rhinos in RRA-1 and about six others in RRA-2 under Project Rhino, which was launched in Dudhwa in 1984 with an initial population of five rhinos.
Officials said that while there have been instances of conflict between rhinos and tigers in the past, leading to injuries or casualties, no such incident had been reported in the reserve in recent years.