Kaziranga: A third round of floods has totally cut off road traffic to Kaziranga National Park (KNP) from Guwahati in India ’s north eastern Assam state. The road was under 10 feet of water at Naogaon yesterday and an alternate route to KNP through Tezpur faced the same fate today. This is the highest level of flood water recorded in the last twenty years, officials said.

The floods this year have thus isolated KNP from the rest of the state, leaving the people inside the flooded park marooned with only telephone links with the rest of the world. A video crew sent from Guwahati by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) somehow managed to cross the worst affected stretch and reach CWRC safely later this afternoon.

While the waters in the park have been rising due to rainfall in other parts of the state, for the first time in two weeks the sun shone bright on the CWRC campus. The two-month-old rhino calf, which was rescued last week, was drawn out of its room during the feeding time, and she sauntered out, exploring her surroundings with her keeper, Bhadreshwar keeping a close watch on her. Meanwhile, two leopard cubs were found at a nearby tea estate and they were brought to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) accompanied by staff from the tea estate today afternoon.

Kadambari Mainkar, Project Officer from the Wild Rescue programme run by the Wildlife Trust of India joined the staff at CWRC last week and she has been supervising the care of the rhino calf since then. “The baby rhino stayed outdoors, basking in the bright sunshine for a good one and a half hours, after which she returned to her room without any resistance”, reported Kadambari.

The two leopard cubs were found by a gardener of a tea estate in the area nearby. Fearing that they were abandoned, the staff of the tea estate requested Rathin Burman, the manager of CWRC to take them into custody. The cubs, which are as big as an adult’s palm have reached CWRC, where they were examined by Dr Bhaskar Chowdhury, the Centre veterinarian. “The cubs are only three days old and they have not opened their eyes as yet. We will keep them in the incubator at the Centre till they open their eyes and then they will be cared for like the other leopard cubs in captivity here. Unlike the leopard cub rescued on July 15, these cubs are able to suckle well and have already been fed with formula at the Centre on arrival”, said Bhaskar. Their arrival takes the total count of young leopards at CWRC to four.

Following a fresh spurt in floods, the water level in the Kaziranga National Park has risen, submerging more areas of the park. The exodus of animals to higher ground, mainly elephants and deer continues, especially at night. Park officials and CWRC staff have been on night patrols on the national highway that cuts through the park. The 430 square kilometer Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is a World Heritage Site and home to approximately 1500 of the estimated total population of 2000 Greater one-horned rhinos, besides many other species of mammals, including elephants and tigers.

The CWRC’s role has been crucial in the rescue and rehabilitation of animals during the annual floods at Kaziranga. The CWRC has been jointly established by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and its partner the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Department of Forest and Environment, Government of Assam.

“Four hog deer were rescued from the floods last night. While one deer died on its way to the Centre, two are being treated for critical injuries and one will be released at a safer place later today, since it is in a good condition”, said Kadambari.

Picture credits: Goutam Chatterjee/WTI