News Highlight
The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari, near the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, has completed 20 years of providing emergency care, treatment, and rehabilitation to indigenous wild animals.
Key Takeaway
- The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation is the only facility in India that rescues, hand-raises, and rehabilitates animals such as the one-horned rhinoceros and Asian elephants.
Kaziranga National Park
- Location:
- It is located in the state of Assam. It is the largest undisturbed and most representative area in the Brahmaputra Valley floodplain.
- Protection Status in India:
- In 1974, it was designated as a national park.
- Since 2007, it has been designated as a tiger reserve.
- Protection Status Internationally.
- In 1985, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Birdlife International has identified Kaziranga as an Important Bird Area
- Biodiversity:
- Sanctuary hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses
- Kaziranga had the third-highest tiger population in India, after Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and Bandipur National Park in Karnataka.
- Kaziranga has the largest population of wild water buffalo anywhere, accounting for about 57% of the world’s population.
- Kaziranga contains significant breeding populations of 35 mammalian species, of which 15 are threatened as per the IUCN Red List.
- Nine of the 14 species of primates on the Indian subcontinent can be found in Kaziranga.
- Rivers pass through it:
- Four main rivers — Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri, have numerous small water bodies.
- National Highway Passes Through It:
- National Highway 37 passes through the park area
- This highway starts from Sutarkandi near Karimganj in Assam and terminates at Bhali in Manipur.
The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation
- The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), located near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, is India’s only facility where orphaned and injured wild animals of various species are hand-raised and/or treated before being released back into the wild.
- The centre is strategically located in Borjuri village adjacent to the Panbari Reserve Forest and responds to a wide range of wildlife emergencies caused by natural or anthropogenic causes.
- It was founded in 2002 by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in collaboration with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department.
- During the rescue, treatment, and rehabilitation of displaced or distressed animals, the centre adheres to accepted international protocols and guidelines.
- Since its inception, the centre has handled nearly 5,500 animal cases, with nearly 62 per cent of them being released back into the wild.
Pic Courtesy: Hindustan Times
Content Source: The Hindu