To Prevent Animal Deaths In Floods, Govt To Build A 32-km Artificial Highland Inside Kaziranga

The deaths of hundreds of wild animals in the annual floods in Assam is one of the saddest sights we have been seeing year after year.

From the endangered one-horned Rhinos to elephants, tigers and deers die in the Kaziranga National Park every year due to the floods.

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Kaziranga has lost 108 animals, including 9 rhinos and 82 hog deer, to the floods this year.

While the annual monsoon and flooding is a lifeline of the national park and up to 60 percent flooding is vital for its sustenance, over the past few years due to the excessive rains, around 90-95 percent of the protected area gets inundated, leaving little space for the animals to seek refuge.

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But things could soon change as the Centre has accepted Assam's proposal to construct a 32-km artificial highland inside the Kaziranga to shelter animals from the flood.

Currently, the park has 20 km of natural highland. Also, there are 144 artificial highlands. Of these 111 highlands were created back in 1990 and 33 were made in 2019.

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However, these are not enough to accommodate the large number of animals that come out of the park seeking refuge from the annual devastating floods.

¡°This will be the largest artificial highland inside the park. The highland will begin from the Kaziranga forest range and stretch up to the park¡¯s sixth additional areas under Biswanath forest range. When floods hit the national park, animals will take shelter on this highland, and after the monsoon is over, forest officials will use it for patrolling,¡± said P Sivakumar, Director of the national park.

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However, environmentalists have long opposed the idea of more artificial highlands inside Kaziranga and argue that it is not the real solution.

They say that it will do more harm to the ecology in the long run than good as the artificial highlands in a floodplain ecosystem will alter the natural course.

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"As the floodplain ecosystem will change to a drier habitat, in the long run, it will not be suitable for rhinos, swamp deer or water buffalo. Construction of additional artificial highland will drastically change the hydrology of the park. This means the flow of water, especially in the flood period, will change to a great extent. This will hamper the natural cleaning mechanism of the ecosystem," a group of experts had warned in April, after union environment and forest minister Prakash Javadekar asked Assam forest department to construct more artificial highlands to reduce deaths of animals during floods almost every year.