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The death toll of wild elephants at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve climbed to 10 on Thursday, after the Madhya Pradesh wildlife department informed that two more tuskers had died.
On Tuesday, patrolling staff at BTR had found four dead elephants at the protected forest reserve, located in the Salakhaniya Beat of Khitauli and Pataur core ranges. Five other elephants were lying on the ground in a critically unwell state.On Wednesday, four elephants died during treatment. The affected herd, officials said, had 13 members – only four were healthy.
On Thursday, another elephant died during treatment, taking the toll to nine. “Plus, officials later found another elephant dead deep inside the forest during a combing operation,” said a senior wildlife officer.
Officials have said that going by “circumstantial evidence”, “toxicity has been observed in their stomach”, and it is suspected that they consumed kodo millets. However, the post-mortem reports are awaited to shed more light on the case. According to officials who are treating the elephants, the surviving tuskers have been given a treatment of liver tonics, multivitamins and general antidotes.
“There is now a large team of doctors who are looking into the case. We are mainly treating them for toxic infection. The medicines are registered intravenously. Several villagers have been questioned on the use of pesticides in the kodo millet plants. The villagers have claimed that the act was not intentional. The investigation is underway,” said a senior wildlife department official.
Officials said the expert teams have suggested to even “look into fungal infections that may arise from ingesting harvested kodo millets”.
“We have consulted some Chhattisgarh-based doctors and are collecting research papers on the same. The experts have informed us that there have been past instances of elephants dying due to ingesting kodo millets and there have also been cases of successful treatment,” said a senior wildlife department official.
The Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh has a population of elephants that migrated from Chhattisgarh in 2018. The first herd of about 15–20 elephants was spotted in 2018. The elephants are now permanent residents and can be seen in the core and buffer areas of the reserve.
Following the discovery of the dead elephants, several teams had been rushed to the spot. The teams examined nearby fields and crops, checked the water sources where the elephants drank, a watering hole where they played, inspected the Kodi-Kutki crop for any poison, collected samples from elephant dung, and also took soil samples and plant exhibits from the vicinity.
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