BHOPAL: Five months after a four-year-old elephant calf died of anthrax at Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR), the reserve is maintaining heightened surveillance and rolling out short- and long-term safeguards to prevent any recurrence of the potentially deadly bacterial infection.
The alert comes as Bandhavgarh is hosting its five-day annual Hathi Mahotsava, bringing together nine captive-trained elephants and their mahouts for a reunion that will conclude on September 28. The reserve currently has 15 trained elephants, all of whom are under round-the-clock health monitoring.
From 80-year-old Gautam and 62-year-old Anarkali to the youngest elephant, Krishna, every animal is being closely watched for unusual symptoms. Wildlife forensic experts from Jabalpur are also examining the elephants during the gathering, while medical teams are monitoring the health of the mahouts.
The heightened vigilance follows the death of Gayatri, a four-year-old female elephant calf, at the Tala Elephant Camp on April 28. Her death was sudden: severe symptoms appeared and the calf died within six to eight hours.
The clinical signs raised an immediate suspicion of anthrax. The most striking indication was profuse bleeding of dark, cherry-red blood that failed to clot — a symptom associated with anthrax in animals.
Testing of blood samples at the School of Wildlife Forensics and Health (SWFH), Jabalpur, subsequently confirmed the infection.
Gayatri's death was therefore recorded as the first confirmed anthrax death of an elephant in the wild in Madhya Pradesh.
BTR authorities did not wait for laboratory confirmation before activating precautionary measures.
Instead of conducting an autopsy, Gayatri's carcass was cremated following the prescribed precautions to minimise the risk of environmental contamination. The other elephants at the Tala camp were moved to different locations within the reserve, and the camp was shut.
The spot where Gayatri died was quarantined and fenced off. Authorities destroyed and burnt potentially contaminated material, including vegetation at the site, and have designated the location a long-term restricted area.
The reserve subsequently procured anthrax vaccines from Bengaluru with assistance from a high-security animal disease laboratory in Bhopal and vaccinated the remaining 15 captive-trained elephants.
Personnel involved in Gayatri's treatment and the disposal of her carcass were also given prophylactic antibiotic treatment as a precaution.
The response has extended beyond the reserve's boundaries. Based on inputs from BTR officials, the Umaria district administration launched a vaccination drive for bovine livestock in villages adjoining the Tala core zone through the veterinary department.
The move is aimed at reducing the possibility of anthrax transmission between domestic livestock and wildlife.
Why anthrax remains a long-term threat
The challenge with anthrax is that eliminating the immediate source does not necessarily eliminate the risk.
The disease is caused by Bacillus anthracis, a spore-forming bacterium whose spores can persist in soil for decades under favourable conditions. Grazing animals can ingest or inhale the spores while feeding on contaminated vegetation or soil.
Once an infected animal dies, its carcass can further contaminate the environment, potentially creating a source of infection for other herbivores.
This environmental persistence is why authorities at Bandhavgarh are treating Gayatri's death as more than an isolated incident.
“We're adopting all SOPs and ensuring round-the-clock monitoring of all the 15 captive-trained elephants at BTR. The SOPs are short-term and long-term both, including making the site where the female calf elephant died in April 2026 a no-entry zone, protected by strong fencing for the next few years,” BTR Field Director Anupam Sahay told The New Indian Express.
Bandhavgarh incident adds to India's wildlife anthrax history
Gayatri's death has also brought renewed attention to a disease that has repeatedly affected India's wildlife, particularly elephants.
Anthrax outbreaks have been documented across several Indian states, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Wildlife outbreaks have also been reported in Assam and Odisha.
The Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha has witnessed repeated anthrax incidents among wild elephants. In September 2016, an adult elephant and a calf found dead near Gudgudia reportedly tested positive for anthrax. Authorities subsequently moved to vaccinate domestic animals in surrounding areas to reduce the risk of transmission between livestock and wildlife.
In Assam, two elephants died in Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary in December 2020 after testing positive for anthrax. Officials at the time also referred to earlier outbreaks among elephants in Upper Assam.
The pattern highlights a critical feature of anthrax: the disease does not remain neatly confined to either forests or villages.
Where livestock graze near protected areas, domestic animals and wild herbivores can potentially encounter the same contaminated soil or vegetation. Humans can subsequently be exposed through handling infected animals or carcasses and, in some circumstances, through consumption of contaminated meat.
For Bandhavgarh, the issue therefore extends beyond protecting its captive-trained elephants.
The reserve lies within a landscape where wildlife, livestock and people interact. That makes surveillance across administrative boundaries crucial, with forest, veterinary and public-health agencies needing to work together when unexplained animal deaths occur.
Research on anthrax risk in India has also identified the interface between elephants and livestock as an important factor in areas where conditions may favour transmission.
At Bandhavgarh, the response to Gayatri's death has consequently moved from an immediate emergency operation to a longer-term disease-control strategy — combining vaccination, carcass-disposal protocols, site quarantine, livestock surveillance and continuous monitoring of elephants and staff.
The lesson from Gayatri's death is stark: in landscapes where forests, grazing areas and human settlements overlap, an apparently isolated animal death can carry implications far beyond the boundaries of a protected area.
And with anthrax spores capable of remaining dormant in soil for years, the fight against the disease may ultimately depend not only on treating infected animals, but on understanding and monitoring the landscape in which wildlife, livestock and people coexist.
