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Kaziranga park begins search for animal carcasses

Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

DRIVEN TO DESPERATION: A herd of hog deer searches for food in the Burapahar range inside the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Sunday. –

Kaziranga: As the waters began to recede in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP), authorities on Sunday decided to launch a combing operation for carcasses of animals that may have strayed outside during the floods.

Death of seven hog deer, three rhino calves and a swamp deer have so far been confirmed by the authorities.

The deer were run over by vehicles on National Highway 37 that passes through the park. Two rhino calves drowned in the flood waters and the third was eaten by a tiger.

Adult rhinos are good swimmers and the problem they face during floods is the submergence of their fodder.

KNP Director S.N. Buragohain told The Hindu that range officials had been asked to scan the park on elephants, boats and on foot for animal carcasses for a correct estimate of the death toll.

The authorities have now stepped up vigil along the national highway to ensure the safe return of the animals that crossed the highway to the highlands in Karbi Anglong.

Mr. Buragohain said that the return of all the animals might take more than a month. The rhinos would wait for new grass to grow in their habitat. Till then, they will stay in temporary shelters on the Karbi Anglong side. Some rhinos and hog deer have taken shelter on highlands inside the park.

The authorities are worried about the safety of nine or 10 rhinos that have taken shelter on the foothills of the Karbi Anglong inside the Hatikhuli tea estate, where poachers roam. Senior officials of the park, including Mr. Buragohain and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dibya Dhar Gogoi, are monitoring the vigil by frontline staff in the area till late in the night. Apart from erecting barricades, vehicles plying on the national highway were made to move in groups with a police escort since Saturday night.

According to the last census in 2006, the KNP had a rhino population of 1,855. The authorities, however, estimate that it has now gone up to over 2,000.

Sunday’s meeting also took stock of the damage to the park’s roads on which jeep safaris are conducted during the tourist season. An action plan is to be drawn up for their repair so that the park can be re-opened to visitors as scheduled on November 1.

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