NEW DELHI, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- More than 140 wild animals have been found dead at a national park in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, which has been hit by severe floods, officials said.
All the deaths took place in the past eight days at Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is one of the world's most important wildlife parks and home to the highly endangered one-horned rhinos, elephants, swamp deer and tigers.
"Since Aug. 10, seven rhinos, 122 swamp deer, two elephants, three wild boars, two hog deer, three sambar deer, one buffalo and one porcupine died," divisional forest officer Rohini Ballav Saikia told the media.
"Carcasses are being recovered daily from the park which is 80 percent inundated," he added.
Heavy rains over the past few days has worsened the flood situation in Assam, with eight rivers flowing above the danger level and inundating 25 of the state's 32 districts. Over 3 million people have been affected by the deluge.
