Even as the flood situation in Assam remains grim, there is some good news coming from wildlife workers who have managed to save 107 wild animals from drowning in the raging waters.
Heavy monsoon rains have caused large scale flooding in the state, forcing 1.2 million people to abandon their waterlogged homes.
Eighty percent of Kaziranga National Park, one of the most important wildlife sanctuaries in the world and home to the world’s largest population of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros, is submerged under flood waters.
Animals like elephants, rhinos, tigers and hog deer are rushing towards higher ground in order to save themselves from drowning.
In this situation, the work done by various wildlife workers, NGOs and local population is truly commendable.
The Assam forest department has deployed over 1,000 people, including staff on the highways, to ensure safe passage of animals to the hills from low lying areas.
Mobile Veterinary Units of Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) have been working day and night and have so far rescued 62 hog deer, three eastern swamp deer, 10 Asian one-horned rhinoceros, and eight rhinos calves separated from their mothers, according to a Wildlife Trust of India press release.
Rescuers are adopting innovative means to help the confused animals.
For instance, they carefully covered the eyes of a rhino calf with a piece of cloth to prevent it from feeling more traumatised as they transported it to safety and shelter.
The young rhino had been separated from its mother while trying to negotiate the dangerous flood waters of the Brahmaputra.
All the rescued animals will stay at the Centre and be released in the wild once the flood waters recede.
If you would like to contribute towards the wildlife rescue efforts going on in Assam, please visit ketto.org.
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