Flood waters separate young rhinos from their mothers. Exhausted and unable to keep up in swirling currents, they land up in backyards of inundated homes, looking for some high ground to lay their tired feet on.
Calves below two years of age are brought to the IFAW-WTI wildlife rescue centre that we run with the Assam Forest Department (AFD) for hand raising and subsequent rehabilitation before release. Those above this age only need to be given safe passage back to the wild.
Two such stranded young rhinos were provided safe passage by the IFAW-WTI and AFD teams on two consecutive days. When Kaziranga National Park was 95% submerged this week, animals crossed the national highway to higher reaches in the Karbi Anglong hills. On 15th July, a young rhino, fatigued and unable to move because of people gathered to watch and movement of vehicles on the highway almost stopped trying to move on his own. The rhino was spotted near a house at Harmuti, under the Bagori range of Kaziranga NP. The rescue team intervened and led by Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, Dr Panjit Basumatary and Dr Daoharu Baro, they brought the calf near the highway and facilitated its crossing over to the Karbi hills.
A similar situation the next day saw another young rhino near the ( a female rhino near the ladies loo!) Harmuti anti-poaching camp. Both calves were held loosely on the neck with a rope and were pulled along a boat to the nearest highland. Locally available material like a spare tube, a bamboo raft, logs were also used to facilitate floatation and keep her head above water.
The team was delighted to see them go back to the wild with very little intervention.
