Devastating floods have killed more than 200 wild animals – including 17 threatened one-horned rhinos – in one of India’s best-known national parks, officials said yesterday.
Forty percent of Kaziranga National Park in Assam has been left under water following 10 days of torrential rains that have also killed more than 71 people in the northeastern state.
The Unesco-listed heritage site is home to the world’s biggest population of one-horned rhinos and draws thousands of tourists from around the world each year.
But it has been stricken by the floods, and as the waters start to recede workers fear the animal toll will rise.
Park director P Sivakumar said that 205 animals, including 17 rhinos, an elephant, 112 hog deer, 12 sambar deer, seven swamp deer, two buffaloes, 18 wild boar and three porcupines.
He said another 16 hog deer and a sambar had been hit by speeding cars while trying to cross a highway that passes through Kaziranga.
Sivkumar, who has proposed giving AK-47 rifles to park rangers to prevent poaching during the floods, said some animals were starting to return.
“The flood situation is improving gradually,” he said.
Rangers and volunteers rescued 69 stranded animals – including three rhinos and an elephant – but some had since died at a rehabilitation centre, park officials said.
Sivkumar said a Supreme Court ban on mining in the nearby Karbi Anglong hills, ordered in April, had helped save lives as the area became a sanctuary for animals which fled the rising water.
“The animals used to avoid the highlands because of the mines. They were afraid of coming into contact with humans,” he said.
Rangers patrolling the mines had seen water buffaloes, rhinos, elephants and even tigers in the quarries.
The park has set up a Special Rhino Protection Force to guard the more than 2,400 rhinos in the park against poachers.
One notorious poacher was detained this month and Sivakumar said earlier that a select group in the force would be given automatic rifles for patrols during the floods.
At their worst, the flooding covered 90% of the park.
The torrents have inundated more than 4,000 villages across Assam, forcing hundreds of thousands into emergency camps.
Meanwhile, at least 39 people were killed by lightning across the eastern state of Bihar during monsoon storms, officials said.
The deaths were reported on Tuesday and yesterday, an official said from the disaster management control room in state capital Patna.
The victims were “mostly farmers or homeless who were outdoors.” Many thatched houses collapsed and sheds were blown away.
The fatalities raised the death toll from flooding and accidents during the monsoon season in Bihar to more than 105.
The official said the flood situation in the state remained grim and was expected to worsen as neighbouring Nepal was witnessing heavy rains and water from the overflowing rivers there may flow in to Bihar.
The official said heavy rainfall in Nepal since Monday was bound to worsen the situation in Bihar.
Latest reports suggest that the water level in major rivers is continuing to rise and embankments have been breached at several places.
Bihar Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha said embankments were breached at several places due to heavy rainfall.
“We are working to repair embankments,” he said.
Jha said the government was doing everything possible to help the flood victims.
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