In Pic :Rhinoceros at the Kaziranga National Park in Guwahati, Assam, Feb. 21.

The recent surge in killings of one-horned rhinoceroses in India’s northeastern state of Assam by poachers has again shone a spotlight on the endangered animal’s fight for survival.

State authorities are fighting back. On Wednesday, two poachers “allegedly involved in the recent killings of rhinos” were shot dead by forest guards, said Niranjan Kumar Vasu, director of Kaziranga National Park, located around 150 miles east of the state’s capital Guwahati.

Earlier this month, a rhino was shot dead and stripped of its horn in Kaziranga, a world heritage site and home to the world’s single largest population of one-horned rhinos.

It was the second to be killed by poachers in a week and the twelfth this year, according to Mr. Vasu.

Assam’s four national parks account for 80% of the world’s nearly 3,000 one-horned species, whose scientific name is “rhinoceros unicornis.”

Rupak Bhuyan, a forest officer at the Kaziranga National Park, said forest guards killed the poachers Wednesday after an exchange of gunfire. “They were spotted in anti-poaching camps inside the park this morning. While two of them got killed in gunfire, the others fled,” he said.

A. P. Rout, additional director general of police in Assam, said authorities were investigating the incident. “I cannot say anything unless investigation results are out.”

There are currently 2,505 rhinos in Assam, including 2,290 in Kaziranga National Park followed by 100 in the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, 93 in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and 22 in Manas National Park, according to India’s official government rhino census last year. A smaller population of around 100 rhinos is found in the southern part of Nepal.

“The threat mainly comes from heavily-armed poachers, who shoot dead a rhino and vanish within minutes after removing its horn,” Mr. Vasu told India Real Time.

Local authorities have set up 153 anti-poaching camps inside the park to safeguard the rhinos. Still, poachers “sneak in” and “resort to all sorts of tactics that include digging pits to trap them, electrocution and gunshots to kill the rhinos,” he said.

Also, during floods, an annual occurrence in Assam, rhinos move to higher ground to escape the overflow. “This leaves them vulnerable to poachers,” Mr. Vasu added.

Last year, 22 out of total 50 rhino deaths in Assam were caused by poaching versus 11 out of 73 deaths in 2011 and seven out of 79 deaths in 2010, according to state authorities and wildlife groups. So far this year, 12 rhinos have been killed by poachers in the state.

“This is an alarming situation,” said Dipankar Ghose, a New Delhi-based rhino conservation expert at the World Wildlife Fund. “The soaring demand for rhino horns in China and Vietnam is driving the slaughter.”

Rhinoceros horns, which are basically made of compressed hair, are used in parts of Asia, especially China and Vietnam, in traditional medicine to supposedly treat cancer and other ailments such as arthritis and hangovers. The rhino horn, which can fetch thousands of dollars, is also sometimes carved into bowls or cups or a piece of jewelry.

“It is quite surprising (the) rhino trade has taken a new shape based on a spreading belief in Southeast Asia, unfounded in science,” Mr. Ghose said.

Another major cause of concern, Mr. Ghose said, stems from the involvement of groups who use “sophisticated assault rifles” to kill the rhinos. The area is awash with firearms stemming from various low-grade separatist insurgencies in the northeast.

Mr. Ghose called for “effective patrolling” by forest guards who should work in close coordination with local communities to prevent killing of rhinos. “Poachers are smart but why can’t we outsmart them?” he asked.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi last month asked federal investigators to help track down militants suspected of using automatic weapons to kill rare one-horned rhinos. He also ordered the state’s armed forces to improve surveillance on the border of national parks in order to keep out tribal poacher groups.

Ashok Kumar, vice chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India, a non-profit conservation organization based in Noida, said despite the government’s best security efforts, poaching for rhinos has increased substantially over last few years as high prices of the horns “keep tempting” poachers.

“The problem is that while there are huge profits involved, people will continue to risk their lives,” Mr. Kumar said.

Please follow and like us: