BAHAWALPUR: The female rhinoceros at the National Park Lal Sohanra died on Saturday night.

According to park officials, the 40-year-old rhino has been ‘sick’ for the last few days and was found dead in the artificial lake in the enclave where she lived with the male rhino. Her body was retrieved from the lake after hectic efforts, the officials added.

The pair of rhinos was gifted to Pakistan by Nepal in 1982. On the orders of the then Punjab governor Gen Ghulam Jillani, the pair was housed at the National Park, Lal Sohanra.

The then park administrator late Maj Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah got built a trench-cum-lake for the pair where they used to bath and relax for hours to the joy of those visiting the park, especially the children.

As per park sources, the female rhino was pregnant and had a miscarriage a few days back and might have died because of excessive bleeding that had weakened her.

They said the female rhino had a stillbirth last year.

Park Conservator Javed Gill, who is also the administrator of the facility, told Dawn that a rhino’s average lifespan was 60-70 years and the female could complete around half of it in captivity.

He said a postmortem examination of the dead beast had been ordered to determine the cause of death.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2019