Despite animal casualties, why floods are necessary for Kaziranga National Park

In a terrible recent development, the Kaziranga national park, home to the rare one-horned rhinos and a variety of other wildlife species, reported 132 casualties due to the flooding of the park area. It has been reported that 92% of the park's total area has been submerged under water. On July 24, Prince William and Kate Middleton expressed their concern on the same, and Prince William even wrote a letter to the Kaziranga Park Director regarding his worries about the animals who had succumbed in the flooding. 157 animals have been rescued from the park. Even the lesser-known Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which has the highest density of rhinos in the world, has been almost fully submerged by water. So much that animals are either dead or wandering about to the nearby villages to seek shelter and food. 

For the second year in a row, the park has almost been submerged, adding to the woes of forest officials. The animals have nowhere left to go, as the problem has been heightened by not the floods - but for us humans. In the last few years, commercial establishments have started choking the park's fringes, as animals are being threatened by increased deaths in accidents by vehicles. Animals escaping to the higher ground have been poached several times, even though security is kept top-notch, and many become roadkill.

Despite this, in an alarming occurrence for conservationists, the floods have proved to become necessary for the park. The regenerative nature of floods helps replenish Kaziranga’s water bodies and maintain its landscape, a mix of wetlands, grasslands and semi-evergreen deciduous forests. It also helps in maintaining the balance of the local ecosystem. The park officials have also claimed that at times when flooding did not occur, there was an abnormal increase in the diseases among animals. To combat the floods, officials begin preparing just after the Bihu festival culminates, in April. Every year, forest guards in country boats traverse the floodwaters to keep an eye on the wild animals under their care, keeping the poachers away and keeping the animals safe from too much water. 

According to one official, " Kaziranga will die without the floods", and in conclusion, it is safe to say that the very floods that threaten the park each year are those who uphold its ecosystem, and of the species that reside in the park, their arrival is more of a boon than we think.

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Writer: Mannat Kandal