The 37-year-old was on his two-wheeler when the rhino attacked him near Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.
New Delhi: A biker has died after being chased and attacked by a rhino near Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam’s Morigaon district on Sunday. Victim Saddam Hussain was a resident of the Kamrup Metropolitan district, nearly 30 kilometers from the place of the incident.
The rhino, who had strolled out of the wildlife sanctuary, approached the 37-year-old while traveling on his two-wheeler. In a video that has gone viral, he can be seen quickly getting down from his bike and running into an open field as the animal, which can run up to 55 kilometers an hour, chases him.
People here can be heard yelling to scare the rhino, which weighs up to 2,800 kilograms.
His body was later found with his head smashed in the field.
“The rhino came out of the wildlife sanctuary. We are investigating the incident,” a forest official told news agency ANI.
Located on the fringes of Assam’s capital, Guwahati, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has been found to house the country’s highest density of one-horned rhinos.
According to data from World Rhino Day this month, India’s one-horned Asian rhino population has almost tripled in the past four decades.
The number of animals has increased from 1,500 four decades ago to more than 4,000.
These species of rhinos may live up to 50 years, like an adult Indian rhino. It is the largest of the three Asian species.
