KAZIRANGA: Seventeen wild animals, including a rhino calf and several hog deer, drowned in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam due to severe flooding.
Assam forest officials have managed to rescue 72 animals, while 32 remain under treatment and 25 have been released back into the wild.
The flood situation at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam remains critical, with 173 forest camps still submerged.
Authorities at the Kaziranga National Park and the Assam forest department have thus far rescued 55 hog deer, two infant otters, two sambar deer, two scops owls, one rhino calf, one Indian hare, and one jungle cat.
Floods in Assam have claimed 46 lives thus far, with eight people drowning on Wednesday (July 03) alone.
Also read: Assam floods: 46 dead, over 16.25 lakh people affected as situation worsens
The second wave of floods in Assam has affected over 16.25 lakh people across 29 districts of the state, including Goalpara, Nagaon, Nalbari, Kamrup, Morigaon, Dibrugarh and Sonitpur, among others.
Currently, over 3.86 lakh people are taking shelter in 515 relief camps and distribution centres set up by the administration in 24 flood-hit districts of Assam.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) reported that 11,20,165 animals are also impacted by the deluge.
Rescue teams, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Fire & Emergency Services, Indian Army, and paramilitary forces, are actively engaged in rescue operations across affected areas.
On Wednesday alone, these teams rescued 8377 people.