GAUHATI, India (AP) — Three rhinoceros calves, rescued during monsoon floods over the past two years at a famed wildlife preserve in India’s northeast, were transported Friday to a zoo as part of a conservation program. The calves, aged 1to
GAUHATI, India (AP) — Three rhinoceros calves, rescued during monsoon floods over the past two years at a famed wildlife preserve in India’s northeast, were transported Friday to a zoo as part of a conservation program.
The calves, aged 1to 2, were taken by trucks to the zoo in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state, from the Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near Kaziranga National Park, said Tajas Mariswamy, a regional forest officer.
Injured or orphaned wild animals are treated at the center and returned to their natural habitats or to adopted homes.
The Gauhati Zoo already has eight rhinoceroses.
Every year Kaziranga National Park, which has the world’s largest population of more than 2,500 one-horned rhinoceroses as well as many other species, gets flooded by heavy monsoon rains which force animals to move to higher ground. India’s monsoon season runs from June through September.
S.M. Singh, director of the park, said Friday that during this year’s monsoon 32 rhinos died because of floods.
Forest guards rescued seven rhinos with varying injuries and sent them to the center for recovery and rehabilitation.
