A rhinoceros, swollen and half-submerged in the overflowing waters of the Jaldhaka river inside the Gorumara National Park, captured the toll on wildlife in Sunday’s floods in North Bengal.
Overnight rain turned rivers into torrents, sweeping through forests and villages alike claiming both humans and wildlife. At least 24 people have died in the floods across the region. The count of animals lost is unknown.
In Gorumara, forest guards discovered the carcass of a rhinoceros floating in the Jaldhaka river on Sunday morning. Just a few kilometres away, a herd of elephants was stranded midstream while attempting to cross the same river.
At Naxalbari, a baby elephant drowned after being swept away by the Mechi river.
Forest officials said around 30 elephants were crossing when the calf was lost to the surging current.
Videos that went viral on social media showed another rhinoceros from Jaldapara National Park battling against the fierce current of the Torsa river. In central Dooars, a leopard trying to cross a flooded stream was fatally injured and later died after being dashed against boulders.
Across the region from the floodplains of the Teesta and Mahananda to the forests of Jaldapara and Gorumara, wild animals struggled to survive as the rivers rose above danger levels.
Multiple wildlife fatalities were reported from Sarsaly, Jasbirgaon, Mirik Basti, Dhar Gaon (Mechi), Nagrakata, and the Mirik Lake area, according to reports compiled by the NDRF and district administration.
But while rescue operations intensified for stranded residents, little could be done for the animals caught between two calamities…floods and habitat loss.
"The problem is, many of those stranded or injured are young," explained Anujit Basu, a veteran wildlife photographer and conservationist with the Nature and Wildlife Association. "The adults may not take the calves back once they have human contact. It's a real crisis."
Speaking to The Telegraph Online, Basu said, "In floods like this, we can evacuate people, but wildlife can't be relocated the same way”.
“Elephants often sense heavy rainfall and move to higher altitudes by instinct. But if a calf loses its herd, it becomes complicated because human scent on the calf's body can make the herd reject it. Sometimes we have to smear the calf with dung and reintroduce it carefully.”
Plus, there is the fear of a broken migration chain.
Basu added that regular animal migration routes along the Teesta and Jaldhaka river corridors get disrupted by floods. "These animals cross the river chains regularly. When such calamities hit, the routes disappear," he said.
The forest department is currently housing injured animals in temporary rescue centres, but resources are stretched thin.
'Rescue all wild animals - not feasible'
Sitangshu Das, biodiversity officer of the Kolkata-based NGO Nature Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS), said the floodplains of the Torsa and Mahananda have been badly hit.
"Rescuing all wild animals during such disasters is not feasible," Das told The Telegraph Online. "What's important is deploying rapid response teams with forest staff and NGOs trained for emergency wildlife rescue."
Das warned that in "stress conditions," forced rescue attempts can lead to animal deaths. "It is often better to give them natural escape routes rather than attempt capture.
Communities living near the forests must also be alerted to avoid retaliation when animals stray into villages. Setting up speed checks on highways that cut across known migration routes can help reduce fatalities," he said.
The floods have once again exposed how ill-prepared the region remains to protect its wildlife.
Last year, more than 130 wild animals including six rhinos died in flooding at a national park in north-eastern India. Flooding and landslides are an annual occurrence during the monsoon, but the scale of animal casualties rarely makes headlines.