India races to protect rhino from death

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Biju Boro / AFP - Getty ImagesAn Indian forest official on Thursday shows the shells from bullets used by poachers to shoot a one-horned horn rhino just outside Kaziranga National Park. The dead rhino is seen in the background with its horn cut off.By Miguel Llanos, NBC NewsHad it not been for the slaughter of seven rhinos in India's Assam state last week, a rhino swept out of a wildlife reserve by floodwaters might now be the eighth. Instead, dozens of elite park rangers on Tuesday surrounded a river area where the one-horned rhino was hiding, as experts weighed whether to try airlifting the massive animal to a safer area.

The killings made headlines in Assam since some took place inside Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At least two of the rhinos were alive when their horns were hacked off, The Times of India reported.

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