Animal News (Except Bigcats)

[Rishi]

The droughts are over & floods are here... Kaziranga has been engulfed by the annual monsoon deluge.

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Kaziranga park turns into watery grave - Assam police to keep an eye out for poachers

Ritupallab Saikia

*This image is copyright of its original author

A rescued hog deer near Methoni tea estate on Tuesday. Picture credit: Bhaskar Choudhury/IFAW-WTI

Golaghat, July 11: Seventy per cent of Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site, is under water following incessant rain over the last few days, forcing animals to cross National Highway 37 to seek refuge in the hills of Karbi-Anglong. The park is 200km east of Guwahati.
A park official today said additional police are being deployed to protect the animals from falling prey to poachers.

Thirty Assam police personnel reached Kaziranga today and more will join in a day or two. They will patrol NH-37 that runs through the park and keep a strict vigil on speeding vehicles.

"Seventy per cent of Kaziranga National Park and around 120 camps are under water," park director Satyendra Singh said, adding that the situation is critical.

Last year the park authorities faced one of the worst floods in recent times and 107 animals were rescued. The rescue efforts were led by the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), a joint venture of the International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) and the Assam forest department.

A statement issued by CWRC, the jointly-run wildlife care facility of the Assam forest department, IFAW and WTI today said it had rescued nine hog deer in the flood-hit park.

The CWRC has released three of them back to the wild. Two seriously injured deer died during treatment and one is under care at CWRC. Three deer were found dead by the rescue team.

One hog deer was found taking refuge in a house near a tea garden market and rescued after tranquillisation.

"In a bid to avoid such mishaps, we, in collaboration with the Bokakhat and Kaliabor administrations, have been issuing entry cards to vehicles plying on the 28km stretch from Amguri to Haldibari. We are slapping a fine of Rs 5,000 if any vehicle crosses the fixed speed limit of 40km per hour. The speed of vehicles is being controlled between Bokakhat and Jakhalabandha. The Bokakhat and Kaliabor administrations have imposed Section 144 CrPC from Burapahar to Latabari area of the park," the divisional forest officer of the park, Rohini Ballav Saikia, told The Telegraph today.

"Till date, we have fined 12 vehicles for violating the speed limit and drones are also being used in Bagori and Kohora ranges of the park to monitor movement of animals," Saikia said.

The National Green Tribunal in May had passed an order saying that any vehicle found overspeeding inside the park will have to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Agriculture minister Atul Bora and forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma visited the relief and forest camps yesterday at Kaziranga and took stock of the situation. They reiterated that there is a need for more highlands inside the park.
"The park authorities have failed to complete construction of 33 highlands before the monsoon and as a result wild animals are suffering the flood fury. Wild animals would have been in a better position had the highlands been constructed before time," Raju Phukon, organising secretary of the All Assam Students' Union, said.

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