Union Government initiates enquiry into the death of Elephants in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change has constituted a team to enquirer into the death of elephants in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh. The team is conducting an independent inquiry in the matter. 10 wild elephants, from a herd of 13 jumbos, have died within three days from Tuesday to Thursday.
Madhya Pradesh constituted a five-member State level committee
Further, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh has also constituted a five-member State level committee, to enquire into the matter and submit a report to the Government. The five-member committee is headed by APCCF (Wildlife). The committee has members from civil society, scientist and veterinarian. The matter is also being enquired into by the Head of State Tiger Strike Force (STSF). The STSF has combed the forests and the adjoining villages and is conducting an in-depth enquiry about the incident.
Death of Elephants : Additional Director General of Forests visited the sites
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden of Madhya Pradesh is currently in Bandhavgarh, actively supervising the inquiry and overseeing actions in the matter.. On the other hand, Additional Director General of Forests (Project Tiger & Elephant) & Member Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, along with AIG NTCA, Nagpur, have visited the sites and held discussions with the State officials on the various related issues and probable cause of the deaths of elephants.
As per the preliminary information shared by the concerned officers from the State of Madhya Pradesh, the death of the elephants may be because of poisoning. The investigation will determine the final cause of death after a thorough inquiry, detailed postmortem reports, and results from histopathological and toxicological analyses, along with other corroborative evidence. State officials are implementing preventive measures to avoid similar incidents, and they have increased monitoring of other elephant herds in and around the Bandhavgarh reserve.
Elephant Deaths and Illness in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve
The patrolling staff of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve detected the death of four elephants in Salkhania beats of Pataur and Khiatuli range of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh on 29.10.24. After further combing of the adjoining areas, field staff and local veterinary officers found six more elephants that were sick or unconscious in the vicinity. They began medicating the sick elephants with support from a team of veterinarians from the School of Wildlife Forensic and Health (SWFH). Dr. A. B. Srivastava, retired Head of SWFH, was also consulted. A veterinarian and faculty member at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, also provided their opinion.
Ten Elephants Die After Crop Raid in Madhya Pradesh
However, four sick elephants succumbed to death on 30.10.24. Further, even after continuous medication and treatment, remaining two sick and unconscious elephants lost their lives on 31.10.24. Out of those dead ten elephants, one was male and nine were female. Further, amongst the ten dead elephants, six were juvenile/subadults and four were adults. The information revealed that the herd of thirteen elephants had raided the Kodo millet crop in the vicinity of the forest.
A team of 14 veterinarians conducted the postmortem of the ten elephants. On November 1, 2024, they sent the viscera to IVRI Izzatnagar, Bareilly, and FSL Sagar for toxicological and histopathological investigations. Meanwhile, on October 30, 2024, they sent blood and other samples to SWFH, while the treatment of the sick elephants indicated the presence of toxins in the samples submitted.
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