One-horned rhino's home flooded

Floods have wreaked havoc in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, home to the largest concentration of the nearly extinct one-horned rhinoceros, inundating 90 per cent of the park area and drowning several animals.

Also Read Floods: Army rescues 350 children Floods, the worst ever: Assam CM

Park Director N K Vasu said six deer, two pythons and a rhino calf carcass have been recovered from the park so far.

Flood waters have submerged 48 camps in the park, while the camps in Mohpara, Makum, Dhanbari, Mowamari, Duramari and Basamari have been shifted to safer places.

All the staff and forest workers have been engaged in flood duty and those who were on leave have been asked to report for duty immediately, he said.

Some forest workers from Golaghat, Nagaon, Sonitpur and Jorhat have also been appointed for help in flood control. Local people are also assisting the efforts to rescue animals, Vasu said.

Five deer, trapped in a thorny bush, were rescued by the locals and handed over to the park authorities on Tuesday.

Traffic authorities have been asked to restrict speed limits on NH-37 to 40 km/ph so that animals crossing the corridor
through the highway to the uplands of neighbouring Karbi Anglong district are not hit by speeding vehicles, Vasu said.