BHOPAL: The Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in the tiger state Madhya Pradesh, continued to report deaths of wild elephants for the third successive day on Thursday.
Two more elephants who were under treatment since Tuesday, died, despite efforts by teams of veterinary experts on Thursday.
With the two fresh deaths reported on Thursday, as many as 10 jumbos forming part of the 13-strong elephant herd have died since Tuesday in the Salkhaniya jungles of the BTR.
According to the official statement by the state forest department’s additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF-Wildlife) L Krishnamurthy, while ten elephants have died so far, the remaining three elephants of the 13-strong herd, are being continuously monitored in the jungles, where they are currently stated healthy and looking normal.
Autopsies of nine dead elephants have already been completed, while post-mortem examination of the tenth deceased jumbo will be performed on Friday.
While the report summing up the toxicological analysis of samples (Kodo and Paddy crop, pond water and faeces of elephants) collected from the spot and sent to the School of wildlife forensics and Health (SWFH-Jabalpur), is awaited, the vets camping on the spot indicated that the possible mycotoxins associated with the Kodo millet (whose standing crop was consumed by the elephant herd on Monday) might be behind the ten deaths, Krishnamurthy said.
Meanwhile, understanding the magnitude of the issue, the MP state forest department’s wildlife veterinarians are in regular touch and consulting experts of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI-Bareilly), Wildlife Institute of India (WII-Dehradun), state forensic science laboratory (SFL-Sagar) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB-Hyderabad).
Further, to the MP government decisions, the government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) and the state tiger strike force (STSF) of the forest department is probing the case from all possible angles.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has demanded a full-fledged enquiry into the incident, while terming the death of the elephants as “absolutely shocking.”
Congress general secretary in-charge communications and former union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh said, “The news from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve about the deaths of the elephants is shocking. This wipes out some 10 percent of the elephant population in the reserve at one go. A full inquiry must take place immediately and preventive measures must be instituted,” the former environment minister said on X, tagging Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.
Importantly, the BTR which houses the densest population of tigers in MP, has also reportedly turned out to be the most preferred habitat of wild elephants, who arrived there from adjoining Chhattisgarh in 2018. Since then, their population has multiplied there and is currently stated to be over 60 in numbers.