KAZIRANGA, Aug 21 - It is said that floods in Kaziranga National Park are a necessary evil. Yes, in fact a low flood without much animal mortality is needed to sustain its special biodiversity status and retain the grassland habitat in Kaziranga for animals like rhinos, Asiatic water buffaloes, deer , wild elephants and other herbivores. But Kaziranga witnessed very heavy to heavy flood in 1988, 1998, 2012, and this year, where the mortality of the animals was high either due to inability to escape from rising water level inside the park area or poaching by antisocials who always keep on waiting to take the advantage of the situation where the wild animals were not in a position to escape to the southern side of the National Highway i.e., the foothills of Karbi Anglong, due to anthropogenical obstruction in the original corridors of Kaziranga. The actual sizes of some of the corridors had been disturbed and minimised by some commercial or residential houses.
A wildlife biologist, who did not wish to be named, said that apart from scientific study of the area for any new construction of highland inside the Kaziranga Park, the original corridors must be freed from the encroachers so that wild animals can freely move to the foothills of Karbi Anglong for safe shelter. Moreover, the area in Karbi Anglong where wild animals prefer to remain till the flood water in Kaziranga recedes, must be brought under the total control of Kaziranga National Park authority so that it can easily be handled during the crisis arising from natural calamities like flood. Thirdly, there is an urgent need to improve the manpower in Kaziranga to ensure full security during floods so that poachers cannot kill any wild animals. Already, 107 wild animals had been rescued and brought to the Wildlife rescue centre in Kaziranga and out of it 93 had been released in the wild according to sources in Rescue centre, under WTI in Kaziranga.
