Yahoo Finance Endangered rhinos seek higher ground amid deadly flood
Deadly floods in northeast India have killed at least 80 people since May. The harsh weather conditions have forced the evacuation of 2.5 million people to flee Assam, a state known for the Kaziranga National Park. But humans aren’t the only ones facing danger and displacement.
The national park is home to 2,500 endangered one-horned rhinos and it’s now largely underwater. More than 135 animals, 18 of them rhinos, drowned in a July flood. Kaziranga has the largest population of one-horned rhinos in the world — there are roughly only 3,500 left.
The flooding has caused many of the animals to seek higher ground and take refuge closer to human areas. Some even fled onto the highways.
Footage provided by Newsflare shows a heard of rhinos assembling on a hilltop surrounded by the flood. The sight is a somber one during the cloudy, overcast day as the zoo remains submerged in water.
“I can say that it’s one of the worst floods in the state and in the park in the recent times,” Assam Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said, according to CBS News.
The flooding is the result of the deluge from the Brahmaputra river. Dubbed the “Sorrow of Assam,” it regularly overflows and floods villages. In July it reached dangerous levels in 24 of the state’s 33 districts. The river also runs through India’s neighbors Tibet and Bangladesh, where it has displaced 2.6 million people.
Unfortunately, the flooding is expected to continue in the region as the yearly monsoon season continues until September.
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