Wild rhino rampages through city in southern Nepal, killing woman and injuring several others

KATHMANDU, Nepal – A wild rhino charged into a city in southern Nepal on Monday, killing a woman, injuring several others and chasing panicked people through the main market and a hospital, an official said.

Attempts to force the rhino out of Hetauda city by honking car horns and beating drums were unsuccessful, with the animal running from one area to another, government administrator Ram Prasad Thapaliya said.

Teams with tranquilizer guns were on their way to attempt to capture it, he said.

Thapaliya said the rhino gored down a 61-year-old woman on the outskirts of Hetauda, a city of about 135,000 people that borders a forested area. An unknown number of people were injured, he said.

It chased people around the main downtown market and the city bus station, he said.

“The whole town is terrorized by this animal. It even entered the local hospital, forcing terrified people to jump over the fences,” Thapaliya said.

Hetauda is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.