Nov

Kaziranga Rhino Hits the Highway, CWRC’s MVS Team Intervenes

Tezpur, Assam, June 27, 2016: The Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) unit of IFAW-WTI’s Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) successfully intervened to help guide a rhino, which had strayed out of Kaziranga National Park, back to safety on June 25.

^{The rhino being observed by MVS and Forest Department personnel as it leaves the village pond at Gajmari}

At noon or thereabouts, CWRC veterinarian Dr Samshul Ali received an emergency call from Shiv Kumar, DFO, Tezpur range, regarding a male rhino that had exited the national park’s 6th Addition and entered the Mora Bharali River near Gultung. When the MVS team reached the spot a large crowd had gathered and was growing unruly, despite Sec 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (prohibiting an assembly of more than ten people in an area) being in effect. At that point the rhino decided to leave the river, and upon reaching the nearby National Highway 37, charged down it like a tank. It ran down the highway for about half an hour.

The situation demanded an urgent response and Dr Ali suggested, in consultation with the Assam Forest Department, that the rhino be diverted to the Zia Bharali River from where it could move back to its range uninterrupted. Forest Department personnel were placed strategically and burst firecrackers, discharged blanks, and used the noise of bamboo tongs and their own voices to force the rhino down a predetermined route to the river.

The animal was allowed to cool off for a while at a pond in village Gajmari. It then passed through Ghuskhua Sapori, a crowded village where people were found to be quite agitated. Dr Ali at this point called out to some village elders using the traditional community greeting, asking them to ensure that everyone stayed in their homes. This strategem worked well and was repeated at every place the rhino decided to take a break.

^{The rhino makes another stop to cool off. Soon after, it reached the Zia Bharali River and made its way back towards its range}

The rhino made subsequent stops at the villages of Bushmari Sapori and Notun Bongali before finally entering the Zia Bharali River at about 8.00pm. It was last seen moving towards the north bank area of Kaziranga’s 6th Addition.

Special mention needs to be made of the efforts of the Assam Forest Department, including Shiv Kumar (DFO, Tezpur), Jitendra Kumar (DFO, Nagaon), Rohini Saikia (DFO, Northern Wildlife Division, Dhulabari), and all the forest guards involved in the operation. The role in terms of crowd control of the civil authorities is also to be commended.