Kaziranga National Park
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Saviours of animals
As in 2020
From: Himanshi Dhawan, How Kaziranga’s green warriors save its famed wildlife from floodwaters, July 26, 2020: The Times of India
Every year, teams of wildlife experts and local volunteers come to the rescue of tigers trapped in kitchens, stranded rhino calves, and scared hog deer
It is 7 am on July 15, and veterinarian Dr Samshul Ali is already on the track of a tired tigress who had holed up inside a warm kitchen in a village on the periphery of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) the night before to escape the rising water levels. More than 85% of the national park had already been submerged.
Ali can see her through the gaps in the thin bamboo wall. He makes a quick assessment of her weight to determine the amount of tranquilizer required, and aims at her. He has only one chance at sedating the animal, and it has to be done right. As the dart hits the tigress, she lets out a spine-chilling roar. Ali stands absolutely still. “If I had moved the animal could have attacked, putting the team and the villagers in danger,” Ali says. A minute later, he takes another peek and finds the tigress is drooping. Five minutes later, the rescue team moves in, and Ali breathes a sigh of relief.
Every year as the flood waters start rising, Kaziranga’s green warriors, which include vets like Ali, gear up to save its famed wildlife — one-horned rhinos, elephants, snakes, leopards, hog deer and even birds. The team includes Assam forest officials, members of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). In the last two weeks, the team has rescued 153 animals, says WTI CEO and founder Vivek Menon.
Just a day earlier, the team rescued a year-old rhino calf that had got separated from its mother and was found stranded by villagers in the Agartoli range area. “We threw a blanket on the face of the calf to prevent it from attacking us and then restrained it. We then sedated it and bundled it in a country boat to take it to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC),” Ali says.
Saving animals is hard work, and needs patience and experience. Though rescues happen throughout the year, the pressure is particularly intense during the floods. Local community leaders, volunteers, specially trained wildlife experts are all pressed into service.
The 1,055-sq-km KNPTR needs floods to maintain its unique biodiversity, says Menon, and most animals are hardwired to recognise signs of a flood and move towards the highlands in the Karbi Anglong Hills. “The challenge is to protect the animal corridors from the forest into the highlands because the National Highway 37 and human habitations have come around it,” he says. This is the area where most of the rescues take place as exhausted, disoriented animals either get hit by fast-moving vehicles or wander into the surrounding villages.
Months before the rainy season, conservationists start preparing for the rescue. The local community is made aware of how to tackle wild animals if they enter human habitations. Among the most common problems is hog deer winding up in a village. Kaziranga’s honorary wildlife warden Uttam Saikia says, “The first thing I tell people is don’t rescue a deer. You could kill it.” When a deer is caught or finds itself close to danger, it suffers from ‘capture myopathy’, a stress-induced muscle degenerative condition that could lead to paralysis, and even death. These and other such tips have helped create an information and rescue network among the villages that lie on KNPTR’s periphery. The biggest challenge during a rescue is not the animal but humans, says CWRC head Rathin Barman. Barman, who has been involved in rescue and rehabilitation for 20 years, adds, “Managing crowds is the toughest part. We need to keep the crowd under control because if they make noises, or crowd around the animal, and this endangers everyone.” This happens most often when a tiger or leopard is trapped.
Despite the tensions, rescues can be very rewarding. There was one such moment this week. The rhino calf rescued on July 14 started taking milk from a bottle after resisting it for a week. “Initially the calf was suspicious but we covered the feeding bottle’s tip with jaggery to lure it. Feeding is a good sign,” Ali says.
Tigers
`Increase Due To Healthy Prey Base’
Estimates show that there are 104 tigers in the Kaziranga National Park and Burachapori, about 250 km from here. In 2014, there were 83 tigers in Kaziranga.
While 95 adult tigers were found in Kaziranga National Park, two adult tigers and their cubs were found in Burachapori. Both the parks are located within the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, sprawling over an area of 860 sq km.
With 104 tigers, the big cat density in Kaziranga has be en found to be 21tigers per 100 sq km. Kaziranga field director Satyendra Singh said, “In 2014, the maximum range for the tiger population in Kaziranga was 116. This time, the maximum range is 117. Though there is no significant rise in population, it is stable. It indicates that the tiger habi tat is intact and healthy .“
“The thriving tiger population points to the fact that there is a healthy prey base for the big cats. In fact, there is a possibility that there are more tigers than the estimates. We are planning to make our next estimate more comprehensive,“ said Singh. Environment activist Rohit Choudhury said it is important to protect the corridors used by tigers to help the population grow. “Unless the corridors, especially between Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong, are protected, it will be a big challenge for tiger conservation. We are concerned about rampant mining activities and encroachment along the corridors in the Karbi Anglong area,“ said Choudhury.
Assam has four tiger reserves -Kaziranga, Manas, Orang and Nameri. Orang has 28 tigers and the highest tiger density in the country with 35.44 tigers per 100 sq km. In Manas, which is also a World Heritage Site, 30 tigers were found in last month's estimate. Nameri is yet to come out with its latest tiger estimate.
