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Kaziranga SOS: Save rhino calves, sponsor their milk feed
GUWAHATI: The flooded Kaziranga National Park has sent out an SOS: adopt orphaned rhino calves by sponsoring their milk powder for two years.
GUWAHATI: The flooded Kaziranga National Park has sent out an SOS: adopt orphaned rhino calves by sponsoring their milk powder for two years.
This year’s flood, the most devastating since 2004, has submerged 80% of Kaziranga — a World Heritage Site that is home to the endangered Indian one-horned rhinoceros. There were 2,400 of these animals at last count, out of a global population of 3,300. Officials said 20 drowned in the floods while one was shot dead by a forest guard in “self-defence”.
Eight calves, orphaned or separated from their mothers by the deluge, are undergoing treatment at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation in Borjuri village, 230km east of Guwahati, on Kaziranga’s southern edge. Run by the Wildlife Trust of India in collaboration with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, it is India’s only wildlife field hospital.
“We have an annual budget to feed, at the most, three rhino or elephant calves. We are not sure how long we can feed these eight flood-traumatised rhino babies,” centre in-charge Rathin Barman said.
Each calf requires an average 3.2kg of Lactogen2, milk powder for human babies, mixed with nutrients according to a formula for rhino and elephant calves. The centre has been spending Rs 45,000 a day on the eight calves for over a week and has overshot it budget.
Seeking public support, Barman said, “Anyone keen on adopting a calf for two years can do so by calling us at 03776294563.”
Barman said the calves would have to stay at the centre for two years before they can be relocated in the park. “Rhino calves survive only on milk for the first year. They take to grass and other feed in the second year, but need milk then too.”
Rescuers said the mother of one calf guided her offspring to their country boat before drowning. Another had taken refuge in a villager’s pig sty but was driven out by a sow.
Apart from the rhinos, Kaziranga has lost more than 310 animals to the floods, including 200 deer of different species. The park has a variety of mammals, including tigers and elephants.
The Assam floods have claimed 34 human lives — two girls drowned in Goalpara district on Tuesday — and affected a million people across 19 districts, with 364,422 people taking shelter in 115 relief camps.
