Hit by flood fury, Royal Bengal Tiger takes nap in Assam house, pics go viral

As floods continue to wreak havoc in Assam and other states in India, photos of a Royal Bengal Tiger have gone viral. According to the Wildlife Trust India’s Twitter thread, the big cat was probably tired after continually swimming in the flooded region and was looking for a shelter. “The #tiger was spotted nxt to the highway at 8:30 am, moving fm the (Kaziranga) park, just 200 m away, on its way to Karbi hills abt 500 m across the National highway. Probably disturbed, he jumped across the wall of a scrap garage & took refuge in the dark room (sic),” one of the tweets of the Wildlife Trust India’s said on micro-blogging site.

 

A Billion Choices says the bag but this #tiger chooses bed n breakfast to escape #AssamFloods. Our team @wti_org_india @action4ifaw with @kaziranga_ working to ensure safe passage to the #forest #Kaziranga @vivek4wild @AzzedineTDownes + pic.twitter.com/5hfxtK2djo

— Wildlife Trust India (@wti_org_india) July 18, 2019

“This is a dhaba across the house where the #tiger is sheltered. It has to traverse this stretch of the road and dhaba to reach the forest you see behind. Highways and settlements block the animals,” another wteet highlighted the problem of safe passage. The tiger was seen relaxing on the bed devoid any aggression known in the regal predator.

90 per cent of the famous Kaziranga National Park is submerged in flood waters. According to latest media reports, as many as 51 animals have died due to raging floods. There was no let-up in the flood situation in Assam and Bihar with the deluge claiming 44 more lives in the two states. In the north, three children of a family were killed and three other members seriously injured when the roof of their house collapsed during heavy rains in Bilaspur village of Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the death toll in the state rose to 27.

Four deaths were reported from Morigaon, two each from Sonitpur and Udalguri districts and one each from Kamrup (Metro) and Nagaon districts, according to the ASDMA bulletin. A rhino died in the Kaziranga National Park while the Brahmaputra and its tributaries were flowing above the danger mark in various places in the state, including in Guwahati, it said. The flood waters have receded from Hailakandi district but still 57.51 lakh people remain affected, it added.

The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger level in Jorhat, Tezpur, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri along with rivers Burhidehing at Khowang in Dibrugarh district, Subansiri river at Badatighat in Lakhimpur, Dhansiri river at Numaligarh in Golaghat district, Jia Bharali river at Sonitpur, Kopili river at Kampur and Dharamtul in Nagaon district, the bulletin said. Vast areas of Kaziranga, Manas National Parks and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary were submerged, forcing the wild animals, including deer and buffaloes to move towards the highlands in Karbi Anglong Hills.

(with agency inputs)