One hundred rhinos have died in the current year at Kaziranga National Park. Out of them 93 died of natural causes. Seven of these were killed by the poachers. The rhinos who died of natural causes include those killed by tigers and those who died of old age, and due to floods.
Manas (Assam): It was a freedom stroll in the wild for three female one-horned rhinoceros of the UNESCO world heritage site, Manas Sanctuary in the foothills of the Himalayas, last week.
Hand-raised by the wildlife experts for more than six years at a rescue centre in Assam's Kaziranga National Park, the rhino calves were displaced from their natural habitat due to floods in the sanctuary.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today asserted that the Government of India has not abandoned the four-lane highway project from Nagaon to Dibrugarh and only the alignment of the road has been changed to bypass Kaziranga National Park.
In a major initiative to prevent accidental death of rhinos and other endangered spices in road mishaps, the Centre has modified its earlier proposal clearing a four-lane Kaziranga National Highway bypass.
Development of a road brings cheers anywhere especially in the North East where transport network is very poor and in bad shape.
But widening of the National Highway- 37, which rips through the famous Kaziranga National Park, has rung alarm bells for the forest officials and the conservationists.
The Conversion of NH-37 to Four-Lane Demand Committee (Kaliabor to Bokakhat) has urged the Government and the National Highways Authority of India to rescind the decision to exempt the Kaziranga portion (Kaliabor to Bokakhat) from expansion of NH-37.
