Police patrol for poachers as animals flee flooding in India

GAUHATI, India — Police are patrolling for poachers as rhinoceros, deer and wild buffalo move to higher ground to escape floods devastating parts of northeast India, including a famed wildlife preserve.

Kaziranga National Park in Assam state has the world’s largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros and is home to many other species.

Assam Forest and Environment Minister Pramila Rani Brahma on Monday described the flooding situation in the park as grave after heavy monsoon rains in the past three weeks. Forest guards have found one carcass of a rhino that died in the floods, and Brahma said vehicles on a highway knocked down six deer over the weekend.

Most forest guard posts in the park have flooded, and police are ordering drones to keep watch on the national park spread over an area of 500 square kilometres (195 square miles).