270 animals are dead,
including 20 one-horned rhinos, and others are at risk of being parched
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| Kaziranga National Park |
“Until
now, 270 animals have died, including 20 one-horned rhinos, of which 17 drowned
and three died of old age as they could not cope with the rising flood waters.
The biggest casualty is the hog deer whose toll has risen to 185,” said
Satyendra Singh, director of kaziranga national park over phone. Among the dead
rhinos are eight calves, including four female calves. Nine rhinos have been
rescued by park officials, of which eight are undergoing treatment.
About
70 per cent of the national park is submerged and the officials will be able to
assess the damage once the water recedes. “Most of the park is inaccessible due
to slushy mud and neck-deep water. Once the water recedes, we will be able to
access the damage,” Singh added.
Wildlife
conservationists though are worried about the safety of the rhinos as many of
them have strayed outside the park’s boundary in search of food and high
ground. “Once the animals are outside the perimeter of the park, they are at a
high risk of being poached and they may also pose a threat to the people as
some were already seen on the national highway,” said Bishal Gogoi, a wildlife
conservationist in Guwahati.
The
threat of poaching is very real as one rhino horn fetches close to Rs8 to Rs10
million (Dh440,180-Dh550,270), and can be easily sent outside India through the
porous Nagaland border. Last year 17 rhinos were poached. This year the figure
has already reached 12.
The
biggest concern for officials though is that people living on the outskirts of
the park and considered as the first line of defence against poaching had to
abandon their homes due to floods.
Kaziranga
National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site, is home to 35 species of mammals
and has 2,400 one-horned rhinoceros, 20,000 hog deer, 100 tigers, 1,000
elephants, 1,500 wild buffalo, and 1,000 swamp deer.
“We
committed to preserve the wildlife of our state and we are doing all that is
possible. Additional resources have been sent to the area and one of my cabinet
ministers is monitoring the situation round the clock,” Assam chief minister
Sarbananda Sonowal said.
The
human toll has increased to 32 even though the flood waters have started to
recede in various areas. “The situation has slightly improved and if we do not
get rain in the next few days the number of people affected by the floods will
fall drastically,” Sonowal added.
However,
for the chief minister and his newly appointed government the challenge is to
redevelop everything from scratch as most of the houses in rural Assam have
been destroyed. “Millions of people have been left homeless and the challenge
for the government is to ensure basic housing for them at the earliest,” said
Subir Pathak, a well-known activist in the state.
