Two rare Indian rhinos die after poaching attack

Two rare rhinos brutally attacked by poachers this week in northeast India have died, veterinarians said yesterday, triggering protests at local authorities' failure to protect the animals.
The one-horned rhinos were found bleeding from gunshot injuries and huge wounds on their snouts after poachers cut off their horns, nose and ears in the flooded Kaziranga national park in Assam state.
"Both the rhinos died late Friday," Bhaskar Dutta, one of the veterinarians involved in the effort to help the animals, told AFP from Assam's largest city Guwahati.
The two rhinos, listed as a "vulnerable" species, had been mutilated as they fled rising floodwaters in the park.
Animal rights groups and residents near the state-protected park staged protests denouncing the government for failing to combat poaching. They blocked highways and burnt effigies of the state forest minister.
Around 600 animals in Kaziranga, including 14 one-horned rhinos, were killed in the wake of floods in July this year. A majority were mowed down on a nearby highway by speeding vehicles as they left the park for higher grounds.