The rhino killed by poachers in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Telegraph picture

Patna, May 11: The rhino poached in Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) died of bullet shots fired at him.

An autopsy conducted on the dead animal today confirmed this after bullets were recovered.

“Other details of the autopsy report would be available in a few days,” VTR divisional forest officer (DFO) of division II, S. Kumarsamy told The Telegraph over phone.

The animal’s body was found in Valmiki Nagar range of the reserve, around 320km north of Patna, on Tuesday. The horn of the rhino was missing when forest officials reached the spot after getting information from the villagers.

The body remained in the forest and those responsible for patrolling could not detect it for about 15 days. The fact was brought to the notice of senior officials only after villagers saw the body.

This has not gone down well with senior VTR officials who are now busy fixing the responsibilities for this lapse.

“Responsibilities would be fixed as the incident clearly indicates the laxity of those responsible in charge of patrolling the area. Had they been vigilant, the animal’s body would not have remained unnoticed for 15 days,” VTR director J.P. Gupta, who is away in Delhi on official work, told The Telegraph over phone.

Gupta’s message appears to have reached the field as even Kumarsamy echoed him when asked to comment on patrolling. “We are in the process of identifying the field personnel against whom the responsibility would be fixed,” he said.

The DFO, however, refused to share the details about the type of action that would be taken against the field personnel.

While bosses are busy fixing the responsibility, field officials are ruing their lot. “Against the sanctioned strength of 77 forest guards, the reserve is doing with just 42 guards and it makes things tough for those engaged in patrolling of 840sqkm of the reserve area,” said a field official, adding that around 60 tiger trackers hired on a contractual basis were not that efficient.

Regarding the protection of three other rhinos, who have migrated from the adjoining Chitwan National Park of Nepal and have made the Madanpur range of VTR their home, the official is concerned as nothing much is going to change from the vigilance point of view in the coming days.

“I have directed the existing field officials and two rhino poachers to be on guard,” said Kumarsamy.

The VTR director, however, appeared more concerned. “After returning (from Delhi) I will review the situation and if required, more forest guards would be deputed in the Madanpur range to keep poachers at bay,” he said.

He also said a proposal had been sent to the chief wildlife warden to shift the elephant of Manguraha range to Madanpur so that it could be used during patrol. Madanpur range already has one elephant.

Gupta said the availability of two elephants would allow the field officials to use the pair in patrolling work as rhinos reside in marshy areas with long grasses and it was not possible to visit those areas on foot. “I would urge the chief wildlife warden to approve the proposal on a priority basis,” he added.