Another elephant died in Bandhavgarh National Park on Thursday afternoon. 9 elephants have died in three days. In this case, STF has checked 7 farms and 7 houses with the help of dog-squad and interrogated 5 people. An area of 5 kilometers from the incident site is being investigated. Veterinarians say that the cause of death will be known only after the forensic lab report.
Bhaskar's team reached the National Park on Wednesday. Finally what is the reason for the sudden death of so many elephants and what are the authorities doing to save the remaining elephants? Read in this ground report…
On October 30, the view of Bandhavgarh National Park is not like normal days. At 12 noon, 10 elephants fell in an area of 300 meters in an open field on the border of Salkhania, Khatauli and Pator ranges. Seven of these elephants have died. Postmortem of the dead bodies is being done. The stench of rotting cattle has spread throughout the area.
Along with treating the three elephants, doctors and forest workers are trying to revive them. After a few minutes an elephant stands in front of us and walks towards the forest. Another is under treatment (who died on Thursday). Trying to lift the third elephant with the help of JCB is also shaking its legs. Seeing this, it seems that he will get up, but after a while his body calms down. Doctors declared him dead.
Now after the death of one more elephant on Thursday, this number has increased to 9. Deaths of elephants are not common. A team of forest department officials and veterinarians have already camped here to monitor the health of the elephants.
The spate of elephant deaths started on Tuesday, till Thursday 9 elephants died.
Veterinarians said that during a patrol at 10.15 am on October 29, guards of the Salkhania beat in Bandhavgarh National Park saw two elephants lying on the ground 2 km from the camp. After going a little further he saw an elephant circling.
Fearing that there were more elephants nearby, the officer returned and informed his senior officer. Rangers and other forest staff reached the spot by around 2 pm. In no time he saw 10 elephants lying on the ground in the entire area. The team of doctors declared 4 elephants dead in no time.
Movement found in Kodo's farm
A herd of 13 elephants reached a farmer's field in Salkhania village. The paddy crop was grown in this field, some of which was harvested and left in the field to dry. In some parts there were green kodos, there was movement of elephants.
Their wooden fence was broken due to elephants entering the farm. Even within the fields, kodo plants were found destroyed and crushed due to elephants eating and walking. The rest of the dry crops were lying on the ground.
People are not the type to poison elephants
Villagers of Nipaniya village were found nearby here, they had come to graze their cattle. One of them said off camera that he had never seen such a terrible tragedy. I am so old. One or two elephants were dying, but such a gruesome sight had never been seen before. 8 The death of an elephant is a big deal. Elephants also come and damage crops. We don't even get compensated, but all this goes on. It is not known how such a big tragedy happened. Humans here are not the type to deliberately poison elephants on such a large scale.
Sukhlal Singh, a farmer from Salkhania, said, “We have come to know that many elephants have died around here. We even went to take breakfast for the Forest team in the morning, but they didn't let us see them. A herd of elephants came to Salkhania village via Bagaia, Bamera and Lakhania. After eating crops in our village, they stayed in the forest. Then the next night they came to eat the crops.
Treatment of an elephant continues
Deputy Director of Bandhavgarh National Park P.K. Verma said that as soon as we got the information in the afternoon, we reached the spot with all the officers of the range. We also immediately called all the doctors.
There was a herd of 13 elephants. Four elephants died. We worked with the doctor all night to save the remaining elephants, but three more died at different times during the night. An elephant died on Wednesday afternoon. A total of 8 elephants have died in this way. One elephant is currently undergoing treatment. An elephant has fully recovered and has gone to the forest.
After the incident, the forensic team investigated the spot and within a few kilometers of its surroundings. We also checked the surrounding water bodies and found no toxic substances. No indication of urea consumption was found. There was no smell of foam or urea coming from the mouths of the elephants. Many elephants died much later, so sulfas is also less likely. The elephants have been postmortemed and buried.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
