6 baby rhinos saved from drowning in floods

KAZIRANGA -- Wildlife workers have rescued six rhino calves from being washed away by floodwaters that have swamped a national park in northeastern India.

Torrential monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding in Assam state and forced around 1.2 million people to leave their water-logged homes. The rains have also flooded vast tracts of the Kaziranga National Park, home to the world's largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros.

Six baby rhinos have been rescued since the floods began last week, said Rathin Barman, an official at a wildlife research and conservation center in Kaziranga.

On Thursday, wildlife workers covered the face of a baby rhino with a cloth to prevent it from getting alarmed before moving the animal to the conservation center.

All of the rescued rhinos will stay at the conservation center for now and will be released in the wild once the floodwaters recede.

At least one rhino drowned in the floods. Forest guards found its remains earlier this week in the park, which is located alongside the mighty Brahmaputra River.

The river was overflowing the danger mark at several places and had breached its banks at others, Assam's disaster management officials said.

Kaziranga National Park is home to a large number of wild animals, including tigers and a sizeable elephant population.