The Floodplain Guardians and the Wildlife Trust of India’s Rapid Response Team

About this episode:

PRIMARY EPISODE (18/11/25):
“Dr Bhaskar Choudhury: The Floodplain Guardians and the Elephants of Kaziranga”

David travels to the floodplains of Assam to meet the Wildlife Trust of India’s Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, veterinarian and project head of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in the heart of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve.

From one-horned rhinos and swamp deer to clouded leopards and king cobras, Kaziranga’s UNESCO-protected grasslands host a breathtaking array of life – yet each monsoon, the mighty Brahmaputra River rises, displacing animals into the paths of highways, villages, and tea estates. Dr Choudhury’s team rescues the injured, the orphaned, and the lost – from palm squirrels to Asian elephants – nursing them back to the wild in what can be a ten-year journey of care, acclimatisation, and eventual release.

Together, they discuss the delicate science of wildlife rehabilitation, the changing flood patterns of a climate-altered landscape, and the deep reverence with which Assam’s people greet the elephants they call gods. Along the way, Dr Choudhury reveals the quiet triumphs and heartbreaks of rewilding India’s giants — and why, after decades of work, the moment an elephant calf rejoins a wild herd still feels like a prayer answered.

Dr Bhaskar Choudhury outside the CWRC in Kaziranga NP

SECONDARY EPISODE (20/11/25):
“Wildlife Trust of India’s Rapid Response to Grounded Humans & Uprooted Wanderers”

Recorded further south, near Bandhavgarh National Park in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, this bonus episode is with Amrit Menon, department head of the Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) Wild Aid division. This conversation looks not solely at rescue and rehabilitation, but at coexistence. What happens when wild animals are forced from their traditional habitats into states that have never before had to co-exist with them? For example, how do local farming communities adapt to life when their new neighbours are forty-five elephants strong?

This conversation details the WTI’s Rapid Action Projects – RAPS — funded in part by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. Think of RAPS as conservation’s Thunderbirds: small, nimble teams that drop into crisis zones, offer immediate help, and try to stop future problems before they grow. We’ll then head into the field — to meet with some of the farmers facing the daily reality of elephantine visits, and the RAP project manager there on the floor, Meghna Bandyopadhyay.

David Oakes with Amrit Menon and Meghna Bandyopadhyay, and Roddy Hamlin (COO of DSWF)

David's thoughts:

A full illustrated report of my time in Assam with David Shepherd Wildlife foundation can be found here:

Project Diary: India – A Guest Blog by David Oakes

It neatly puts my morning with Dr Choudhury into perspective, and I am indebted to Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar of Aaranyak for making the introduction. (My apologies to Bibhab – my conversation with him about Aaranyak’s work in Kaziranga suffers from being recorded in a hotel room in an INCREDIBLY noisy Guwahati!)

Should you not want to see my incredible photography of Rhinos and Tigers, then the relevant section is copied out below for you:

“…Before leaving Kaziranga, Bibhab took us to the Wildlife Trust of India’s Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation. Run by Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury, the centre was established in 2002, and has seen over 5,000 animals enter the premise, with nearly 60% released back to the wild; everything from leopards to elephants, cobras to macaques, rhinos to tigers.

“On our visit, looking on from a distance, we were lucky enough to witness four orphan elephants fed by bottle, before running off back into the jungle to rejoin what will hopefully become part of their new herd structure. I could write a whole blog on the pressures upon elephants in this habitat and the great lengths that people like Bhaskar go to to effectively rehabilitate every single orphaned elephant. It literally takes years.

“But to bring us full circle, most of these animals are left injured or orphaned, or stranded where they really shouldn’t be (like the time a tiger ended up in an unsuspecting civilian’s bedroom) as a direct result of the flooding of the Brahmaputra. Time and seasonal change is as constant as ever; the passage from the wetlands is a journey these animals have made for generations, but there never used to be so many roads or towns or scared people barricading their safe passage. Much of what Aaranyak is doing is trying to educate the people about this natural Animalia flow, but it is up to the WTI and Bhaskar to help support those animals that cannot find safe passage.”

Below is a video taken during my site visit with Amrit and Meghna. It was recorded after the conversation you have heard in the Second Episode. Just outside of Bandhavgarh NP, I witnessed the amount of destruction that one herd of Elephants can do to a field of crops in one hour. In the baking sun, the trampled and then hardened soil proves unworkable for months to come. The patience for the newly arrived elephants (displaced from a nearby state due to building) in this formerly non-elephant-bearing state was truly laudable (and almost unfathomable…!) With assistance from the Wildlife Trust of India’s Rapid Action Plans, repeat occurances can be avoided or the impact reduced. Conservation works best when it supports both the wildlife and the human communities.