Skip to content Skip to navigation

Flood awareness campaign in Kaziranga

With increasing possibility of Kaziranga National Park being inundated by the raging Brahmaputra River, the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) -- an IFAW-WTI run wildlife welfare centre -- has started pre-flood awareness campaign for the safety of wildlife in the fringe villages of this world heritage site.

With support of Kaziranga Forest Authority, two awareness meetings for residents of six villages in the fringe areas have already been held in Central and Eastern Range of the park. More such meetings for wildlife protection during floods will be held to cover the entire Kaziranga –Karbi Anglong landscape. 

Previously during floods, the wildlife of the park moved towards the highland and hill ranges of Karbi Anglong crossing the NH-37. This national highway has become a death trap for many animals and therefore extra protection measures are needed for animals when they cross this road.  During these years, a large number of hog deer succumbed to road hits during the floods.

Moreover, to mitigate the human–animal conflict during this crisis, the IFAW-WTI team has formulated a work plan for wildlife safety following the awareness meetings held in the fringe villages of Kaziranga and those in the foothills of Karbi Anglong. Conservationists, panchayats, village headmen, local NGOs, civil and forest authorities attended these meetings and sensitised villagers on how to save wildlife.

During the course of these meetings, CWRC’s animal welfare experts highlighted the issue of “unnecessary rescue” of wildlife that causes displacement and sometimes leads to animal mortality, especially in deer species. Through audio-visual presentation and short videos, the participants were informed about flood rescue and guidelines on dos and don’ts were also shared.

CWRC designed informative bill-boards and leaflets in Assamese and handed it over to the village authorities to display at strategic locations for public awareness during the floods. Every banner has emergency contact numbers of CWRC and Kaziranga Control Room for immediate rescue. Two contact numbers of Kaziranga Control Room (03776-268007) and CWRC (03776-269563) would be operational 24*7.

Mukul Tamuli, Range Officer, Central Range, Kaziranga, said at the awareness meeting, “During flood days we have to work together for wildlife safety in Kaziranga. For any wildlife emergency, forest authorities are ready to work with the community like previous years. We also urge the villagers to keep a close eye on the movement of poachers during flood and intimate the forest authorities.” The Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) unit of CWRC that has a team of veterinarians, animal keepers, biologists and other conservationists who would be ready to attend to any wildlife emergency. 

As we see every year, Brahmaputra inundates the Kaziranga National Park and animals start moving towards Karbi Anglong foot hills where the threat of poaching is considerably high. Jagat Bahadur Chetri, renowned social worker from Tamuli Pathar village near Kaziranga, urged the participants not to catch deer which stray out of the park. He asked villagers to inform the Kaziranga Control room or CWRC if any wild animal needs to be rescued.

CWRC also trained a group of boys and girls of the fringe villages of Kaziranga on wild-rescue as part of the pre-flood awareness campaign.

“In the first awareness meeting, we asked the villagers whether they need any kind of help from CWRC. Few boys said that they want to know about rescue in detail, especially about snakes.  A lot of snake related cases are reported from the region during floods and they wanted to know how to identify whether the snake is venomous or not. Keeping that in mind, we organised an orientation programme at the centre with 11 (8 boys and 3 girls),” said Dr Rathin Barman, Deputy Director, WTI.

During these awareness meetings, the IFAW-WTI team shared their experiences and gave suggestions on rescue of wild animals.  Apart from the CWRC team, Uttam Saikia, eminent conservationist and honorary wildlife warden, and “Aranyak” team also participated in the workshop and gave valuable suggestions.

Mamoni Hazarika, Head Mistress, Dhansirimukh Janajatiya High School, one of the awareness campaign venue stressed that school children should not attack birds and deer with catapult during floods and even otherwise. This school is in a very sensitive area called Bohikhowa under eastern range of the park.

Moreover, the animal cages are ready for any kind of rescue operation at CWRC. The animal keepers of the centre are prepared to tackle any kind of wildlife emergencies. Till now, no rescue call has been received but forest guards are ensuring that drivers are not over speeding with the Time Card facility.

During the 2014 floods, the four MVS units of CWRC rescued 33 wild animals that had strayed out of Kaziranga in search of a safer location.

Author info

Subhamoy Bhattacharjee's picture

Add new comment

Random Stories

Uncertainty in APSC exams

26 Jun 2014 - 2:21pm | AT News
The combined competitive examination for selection of candidates for Assam Civil service and allied services mires in uncertainty. The mains examinations slated for June 28 to be conducted...

LS: BPF to contest 2 seats

27 Jan 2014 - 4:41pm | AT News
BPF will contest in Kokrajhar and Mongoldoi in the Lok Sabha poll and will help Congress win other seats.This was what BPF president Hagrama Mohilary told reporters when he accompanied Biswajeet...

Cong MLAs divide Assam BJP

19 Feb 2015 - 10:43am | Prasanta Baruah
Assam BJP unit is heading for a vertical split a year before the assembly polls.Party top leaders refusing to be named told Assam Times that the crack is imminent after the party leadership has...

How does the President of India get elected? – Rebati Neog

15 Jun 2007 - 5:30am | editor
The President of India is elected by an electoral college, comprising the Members of both the Houses of Parliament as well as the MLAs of all state Assemblies. The total number of members in the...

Other Contents by Author

‘Jamuna’, a female rhino that had been rehabilitated into the wild by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department in 2010, has given birth to her second calf in Manas National Park, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, on Sunday morning. The calf was first seen by frontline forest staff of the Bansbari Range during their early morning patrol. Its presence was later confirmed by a field team of IFAW-WTI’s Greater Manas Conservation Project, comprising Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, WTI's Head Veterinarian (North East) and the project-in-charge, and animal keeper Debajit Saikia. “This is the sixth calf born to the rhinos rehabilitated...
It’s been a year since Kaziranga National Park was inundated by the worst floods to have hit Assam in over a decade. Among the 100-plus wild animal emergencies that CWRC (the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation: the wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation centre run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department near Kaziranga) and its Mobile Veterinary Service units attended during the floods last year, were eight orphaned rhino calves that were rescued and brought to the centre to be hand-raised. The simultaneous long-term care of eight rhinos has been a massive challenge for the team at CWRC. In...
A convention of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG), the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Species Survival Commission’s voluntary group of experts for the management and conservation of Asia's elephants, will get underway at Guwahati on November 10-12. The three-day convention will be attended by representatives of 11 Asian elephant range countries as well as presenters and observers from ‘non-elephant’ countries like the United Kingdom and United States of America.
Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah, President, Asam Sahitya Sabha, released the Poetry special issue of Eka Ebong Koekjan, the foremost Bengali literary journal from North East, before an august gathering of writers and intellectuals at Karmasree Hiteswar Saikia Auditorium, Pandu on Sunday. Dr Borah lauded Eka Ebong Koekjan for its untiring efforts through 37 long years to disseminate the richness and diversity of the literature of Assam and the North East to the greater Bengali diaspora. He said that literature has a unifying and harmonising role to play in building up a greater Assamese society incorporating diverse linguistic and ethnic groups in its fold. He defined ‘Asomiya’ as one who is...
Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) units of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) – the wildlife rescue, care and rehabilitation facility jointly run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Assam Forest Department (AFD) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – have attended 107 wildlife rescue cases in the ongoing flood crisis in Kaziranga National Park as of August 1. Kaziranga, one of India’s UNESCO world heritage sites, has faced a major wildlife crisis this year due to what are being described as the worst floods in a decade. As large areas of the park are inundated in the annual monsoon floods, wild animals seek higher ground across National Highway 37...
Pramila Rani Brahma, Environment and Forests minister of newly formed Assam government visited Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), the wildlife care facility jointly run by Assam Forest Department, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) as part of her two-days visit to Kaziranga National Park on Thursday.
Their Royal Highnesses William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this afternoon visited IFAW-WTI’s Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park, Assam. CWRC, run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with support from the Assam Forest Department, is the only facility in India where orphaned and/or injured wild animals of several species are hand-raised and/or treated and subsequently returned to the wild. As of March 2016 the Centre had handled 4,322 animal cases, with 2,465 being released back to the wild – a rehabilitation rate of nearly 60 percent. Their Royal Highnesses...
Ashok Kumar, Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) was honoured with the Sanctuary Legend Award at the prestigious Earth Heroes event held at NTPA auditorium in Mumbai today. The Legend Award is a new honour started by Sanctuary this year. With a career in wildlife spanning over five decades Ashok Kumar’s contribution to conservation is immeasurable. A pioneer in many ways, he has a strong hand in ensuring that Sansar Chand, the most dangerous wildlife trader ever to have operated in India, stayed behind bars. He set up TRAFFIC in India and conducted a milestone seizure of tiger derivatives during his tenure there. At a time when nobody spoke about seeking...
In a first of its kind sensitization programme on Asiatic black bears, 14 youth from Shergaon - a small but important area in Arunachal Pradesh – were taken on an exposure visit to IFAW-WTI run Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) in Pakke Tiger Reserve. At CBRC, the visitors were briefed about the importance and need for conservation of wildlife and bio-diversity in Arunachal Pradesh. Shergaon falls in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh and the residents are predominantly Sherdukpten, a tribe Buddhist by religion. To effectively spread the message of wildlife conservation among the villagers of Shergaon, IFAW-WTI partnered with a local NGO named Garung Thuk....
In a covert operation assisted by WTI, Hari Singh and Munni, husband and wife, were apprehended in Gwalior and 27.5 kgs of pangolin scales were seized from them. It is a huge development in busting the pangolin trade racket since they are a crucial link to the trade that has been flourishing for the last few years. Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) in co-operation with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) was able to apprehend the accused after a regular and steady surveillance using phone and modern tracking devices. Pangolin scales are high on demand for various reasons and the trade has been going on for several years. However, this has been the first major development in busting...