At least seven wild elephants, from a herd of 13 jumbos, have died at the world famous Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh while three are critically ill and undergoing treatment.
Initially two elephants were found dead on Tuesday but during search and investigations launched by the forest department’s patrolling teams, five more tuskers were also found dead. Another three were found seriously ill and senior officials and teams of veterinarians rushed to the spot to provide treatment to the sick elephants. The postmortem of the dead tuskers was also being carried out to ascertain the exact cause of death.
Initial investigations point out to the fact that the elephant herd possibly grazed on crops that were sprinkled with pesticide leading to their deaths.The state forest minister Ramniwas Rawat expressed grief at the incident while ordering an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the matter on Wednesday.
Senior wildlife officials including National Tiger Conservation Authority’s Central Zone Assistant Inspector General Nandkishore Kale rushed to the spot along with officials of the state forest department.Veterinarians from the School of Wildlife Forensics and Health at Jabalpur and from the Pench and Kanha national parks also rushed to the spot to provide treatment to the ill elephants besides carrying out the postmortems of the deceased tuskers.
According to BTR Deputy Director Prakash Kumar Verma, the elephants were found dead in Salkhania and Bakeli beats under the Khitoli and Pataur Kor ranges of the reserve. Sources said that the New Delhi-based Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has also set up a committee to initiate an inquiry into the deaths.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on social media that the death of seven elephants at BTR is absolutely shocking. The former union forest and environment minister said that the population of elephants at the BTR has receded by 10 per cent in this one incident. He has demanded a full inquiry into the matter immediately.