Vets try to save Indian rhino attacked by poachers

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Vets in northeast India battled on Thursday to save a rare rhino whose horn was hacked off by poachers who are stepping up attacks on animals fleeing rising floods in Assam state.

The gravely injured rhino was found in the deluged Kaziranga National Park, bleeding from a huge wound on its face after poachers cut off its horn, nose and part of its ear.

Animal rights groups and local residents near the park staged angry demonstrations on Thursday denouncing the government for failing to combat poaching after a third rhino was attacked in two days.

"The rhino whose horn was sheared off by poachers is being operated upon by a team of veterinarians to remove bullets stuck up inside the abdomen, besides treating the wounds," park warden Dibyadhar Gogoi told reporters.