Monsoon floods are essential to Kaziranga’s ecosystem: its vast grasslands and beels (wetland lakes) are annually revitalised by the mighty Brahmaputra’s overflow. But this year’s floods have caused a severe crisis for wildlife. If the 2016 floods were ‘the worst to hit Kaziranga in a decade’, the floods this year are probably the worst in 30 years. Over 85 percent of the park is inundated, displacing thousands of animals. And hundreds of creatures–including tigers, rhinos, elephants, wild buffaloes and hog deer–have died in the past two months.

Wildlife is also affected due to the increased human presence around the fringes of the national park. The typical behaviour of wild animals as Kaziranga gets inundated is to seek higher ground towards the Karbi Anglong Hills. But when their traditional corridors of movement are intersected by roads or human settlements, it makes their exodus more difficult. Having to cross human-dominated areas makes animals more vulnerable to vehicular accidents and poaching, and increases the possibility of human-wildlife conflict.

This isn’t to say that people living on the outskirts of Kaziranga are necessarily antagonistic towards wildlife. The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), the facility I work with, is a unique wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation facility jointly run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department near Kaziranga. It has regularly conducted pre-flood awareness activities with local communities and found them to be refreshingly tolerant towards wildlife at most times.

Despite being in distress themselves, villagers had kept a watch on the rhino calf through the night. Despite being in distress themselves, villagers had kept a watch on the rhino calf through the night.



In fact, one of the emergency rescues I attended earlier this month with CWRC’s Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) team involved a displaced rhino calf, just about a week old and with its umbilical cord still attached, which had found its way into the backyard of a flood-affected home in the Haladhibari area on the fringes of Kaziranga. Despite being in distress themselves, villagers had kept a watch on the calf through the night and were happy to assist the forest department and the MVS team when we arrived to rescue it.

This was on August 13, a day when four rhino calves were rescued and brought to CWRC’s Large Animal Nursery within just 24 hours! In all, our MVS teams across Assam comprising veterinarians and animal keepers have attended close to a hundred wildlife emergency cases over the two phases of floods in July and August, working in concert with the forest department.

Seven rhino calves have been rescued from the floods thus far in 2017. Dr Panjit Basumatary, the lead veterinarian at CWRC, informs me that the first four weeks post-rescue are the most challenging since the calves are stressed due to the trauma of their experience and of course, the separation from their mothers. While five of the six calves rescued this month have been stabilised, Panjit tells me, one remains in an agitated state.

Of course, rescuing and providing emergency care for displaced animals is just one aspect of what our teams do, since large mammals like rhinos and elephants–and there are currently 28 orphaned elephant and rhino calves under care at CWRC–will require years of dedicated hand-raising! The real journey begins now, and we’re going to need your help in successfully rehabilitating these animals back into the wild.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

You can help the cause by donating to the relief and rescue of the animals through this crowdfunding page, or by making a donation via the Wildlife Trust of India website. Also visit the website for ongoing updates on our rescue efforts during the Kaziranga floods.

Dr Rathin Barman is Joint Director, Wildlife Trust of India and Head, CWRC