At the mercy of nature: A one-horned rhinoceros and a calf take shelter on a piece of land in the flooded Kaziranga National Park at Kaziranga, 250 km east of Guwahati in Assam. As rhinoceros, deer and buffalo tried to move to higher ground to escape floods that have devastated the park, police patrolled the area for poachers. While the count of animal deaths is yet to be undertaken, more than 40 people have died in the floods, and lakhs stranded. As for Kaziranga National Park, it has the world's largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros and is home to many other wild animals. In the 2012 deluge, over 500 hog deer, 19 rhinos and 22 sambar died. The park has been one of the biggest success stories of conservation in India. From barely 75 in 1905, the population of the Indian rhino now stands at 2,400. Set up in 1974, the UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1985.
