An adult rhino, which strayed away from the Kaziranga National Park, was killed and its horn taken away by poachers in Majuli district, a forest department official said on Sunday.

The carcass of the female rhino with its horn missing was recovered on Sunday morning at Lohore Chapori situated north-west of Shankarghat at Dergaon by villagers who informed local forest officials, Divisional Forest Officer of Kaziranga National Park Rohini Ballav Saikia said.

9 round of bullets

Stating that the rhino was killed on Saturday night by poachers taking advantage of heavy rain, Mr. Saikia said the animal hunters shot nine rounds from a .303 rifle to kill the rhino as evident from the empty cartridges recovered from the spot.

The rhino reached Majuli district walking over the sandbar of the river Brahmaputra after it had strayed away from the Agaratoli Range of the Kaziranga National Park on February 22 last, the DFO said.

This is the third rhino killed by poachers since January this year with the earlier two rhinos killed in Kaziranga and this one outside the Park area.