A one-horned rhinoceros that was found injured with bullet wounds has been rescued and transferred to Janakauli community forest in Sauraha on Sunday. The rhino was rescued from Tileshwor community forest of Chandrapur-2 in Rautahat district.

The rhino was found injured with six bullets including four in its head fired from a musket gun at Tileshwor forest on Saturday. The health condition of the injured rhino is critical. It is receiving treatment under direct supervision of physicians.

A team comprising of Chitwan National Park Assistant Conservation Officer Chandra ShekharChaudhary, animal health expert PurushottamPandey, Information officer of Nature Conservation Trust Ram Kumar Aryal and a team of Nepal Army rescued and transported the rhino to Chitwan.

The team darted the rhino onto a truck on Saturday itself and ferried here to Chitwan.

"Due to numerous bullet injuries in the head, the health of the rhino is hard to ascertain," said CNP Chief Conservation Officer Ram Chandra Kandel. "It broke down into ground for longer period without water in injured condition," he said.

Water feeds energy into rhinoceros. But as it was injured with bullets and could not move to nearby water source, it got tired and could not resume its movement, the physicians involved in its treatment say. The physicians gave slain water to the rhino in the truck. The rhino is unable to move as the bullets are still inside its body and causing it pain.

Information officer Aryal says that it is hard to extract bullets out of its head.

Locals informed police and forest officer after they heard an outcry from a bush when they were in the forest to collect mushroom. Later a team of national park officers and security agencies reached the area to find an injured rhino. It took the team whole night to rescue the rhino.

Chitwan National Park has been celebrating zero rhino poaching years for past two years. Officials remark that this is a first case where a rhino was shot outside national park and conservation area.

The area where the rhino was shot has weak security and is a playground for poachers. Much attention has not been paid for strengthening the wildlife security in the region. Most of the times, domestic illegal weapons are used for poaching.

The national park assumes that the shots were fired to kill rhino for its horn. An investigation team has been formed to probe into the incident.