A biker died after being chased and attacked by a rhino near the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam’s Morigaon district on Sunday. The victim, Saddam Hussain, was a resident of the Kamrup Metropolitan district, about 30 kilometers from the place of the incident.
The 37-year-old was traveling on his two-wheeler when the rhino, which had strolled out of the wildlife sanctuary, approaches him.
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.
Locals can be heard shouting to scare off the rhino, which can weigh up to 2,800 kilograms.
Hussain 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 the news agency ANI.
Located in the suburbs of Assam’s capital Guwahati, the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is known for holding the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the country.
Data released this month on World Rhino Day said that India’s one-horned Asian rhino population has almost tripled in the past four decades.
The number of animals has surged from 1,500 four decades ago to more than 4,000 now.
An adult Indian rhino, the largest of the three Asian species, can live for about 50 years.
Kaziranga Conservation Park in Assam is home to an estimated 80 percent of the world’s one-horned rhinos.
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