Assam: Flood-rescued Kaziranga rhino calves to be translocated to Manas Tiger Reserve
Three rhino calves, rescued from a flood-submerged area of Kaziranga National Park in 2019, will be translocated to the Manas Tiger Reserve on Saturday.
Rescued by the Assam forest department and veterinarians of the International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) from Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, the rhino calves (two females and a male) have undergone a protocol of rehabilitation for two years.
The calves were on Friday loaded into individual crates for translocation by the expert team of IFAW-WTI veterinarians and the convoy is expected to reach Manas Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the early hours of Saturday.
The female calves were rescued from Hatimura (Biswanath- North Bank) and Kuthuri area while the male was rescued from Solmara during the Kaziranga floods in July-August 2019.
“This is the right time to release them in the wilds, as the calves will be developing horns. The intra-state rhino translocation will help in improving the gene pool and give respite from any epidemics in the future,” said P. Sivakumar, director of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve on Friday.
The state forest department and WTI-IFAW along with Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), have augmented Manas with 19 rhinos, including offspring of the released rhinos, born in the wilderness of Manas Tiger Reserve since 2006, out of the total population of 44 rhinos.
The release of flood-rescued and rehabilitated rhinos to the wilds of Manas Tiger Reserve is a part of the long-term project of IFAW-WTI with forest department and BTR, where the translocated rhinos have bred, and their progeny have added to the rhino population of Manas Tiger Reserve.
(Edited by Christopher Gatphoh)
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