A streak of tigers killed a sub-adult rhinoceros in Assam’s Orang National Park in Assam on Saturday night, according to the park officials.

This is the third unnatural rhino death in the state since September.

Divisional forest officer Pradipta Baruah told The Telegraph that forest personnel spotted the carcass of the sub-adult female rhino around 8.30am during their morning round on Sunday.

“The rhino, aged about seven years, was attacked by a group of four tigers that included a female tiger and her three cubs last night. We have found pugmarks of three tigers,” he said.

He added: “This streak has been sighted at the place of occurrence under Roumari camp of the park. Had it been an adult rhino it could have staved off the attack by the tiger group. This is not an uncommon case. Sometimes rhinos get killed, sometimes tigers,” the divisional forest officer said.

The carcass has been sent for post-mortem. Orang National Park is spread over districts of Darrang and Sonitpur in north Assam.

Of the 2,895 rhinos found in Assam, the highest in the world, Orang National Park has about 125, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary 107 and Manas National Park about 40. The highest concentration is found in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve — about 2,613.

Rhinos are a major tourist attraction in all the parks and their conservation has been a key priority for the state government and wildlife organisations.

The last rhino death was reported from Kaziranga. A female rhino was attacked with a spear by a man when it strayed into human habitation on November 24, a first-of-its-kind incident.

Before that the carcass of a female rhino was recovered near Haduk Hanging Bridge in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon. She died due to drowning.