20 July 2020.

Introduction:

According to announcement made by the State Govt. of Assam, as many as 108 animals have died in the Kaziranga National Park in the recent floods.

Highlights:

• According to a bulletin issued by park authorities nearly 85% area of the park, spread over 430 sq km is under water at present.
• Forty three of the 223 forest camps inside the park are inundated of which 6 have been vacated.
• Till now, 60 animals (36 hog deer, eight rhinos, three wild buffalo, one python, seven wild boar, two swamp deer, one Sambar and two porcupines) have died due to drowning.
• Fifteen hog deer have died after getting hit by vehicles on national highway 37 close to the park, while trying to cross it to escape flood waters.

 Relief Measures:

• PM Modi has sanctioned Rs 2 lakh to the next kin of persons who lost their lives in the floods from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
• The State Govt is providing Rs. 4 lakh to the next of kin flood victims.
• In total,134 animals have been rescued. Of them, 110 have been released into the wild, while 8 others including a one-year-old female rhino calf are under treatment at CWRC.- Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation.

About Kaziranga National Park :

• Kaziranga National Park is a protected area in the northeast Indian state of Assam.
• It is spread across the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River, its forests, wetlands and grasslands are home to tigers, elephants and the world’s largest population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses.
•  Ganges River dolphins swim in the park’s waters.
• It’s visited by many rare migratory birds, and gray pelicans roost near Kaziranga village.
• It was established in 1905 as a reserved forest.
• In 1950, it was renamed as  Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary.
• In 1974, it was declared as a National Park.
• In 1985, the UNESCO declared the park as UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• In 2006  it was declared as Tiger Reserve.

About One Horned Rhino:

• The one-horned rhino is the largest of the three Asian Rhinos- the Sumatran and Javan Rhinos.
• India has entered into collaboration with four countries to protect Asian Rhinos and these are Nepal, Bhutan,Indonesia and  Malaysia.
• The New Delhi Declarartion on Asian Rhinos 2019 was signed by these countries to conserve rhinos.
• A Special Rhino Protection Force was set up  in 2015 to control poaching of rhinos