Two more tuskers died and death toll rose to ten in past three days of devastating incident reported at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. In prima facie of the investigations, investigating teams found toxicity in the elephants’ stomach and Kodo millet. It may be noted that after spotting the carcass of four jumbos by a forest patrolling team on October 29, four more elephants died on October 30 and 31. The incident kept all the State and Central wildlife and forest agencies on toes and the State Government ordered a high level probe by constituting a 5-member committee led by The government has tasked the investigation panel, led by Additional PCCF, L. Krishnamoorthy, to provide a report within ten days. On the other hand, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, VKN Ambade, a 5-member team from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Delhi, representatives of National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi are continuously monitoring the situation to ascertain reason behind the suspicious death of elephants.

 

According to L. Krishnamoorthy, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), in the autopsy of carcass, team of veterinarians found toxicity in the elephants' stomachs and a significant amount of Kodo millet was also found in their stomachs. This five-member committee, appointed by the state government to investigate the tusker deaths in Bandhavgarh, which spans Umaria and Katni districts, has sent viscera samples to the School of Wildlife Forensic and Health (SWFH) in Jabalpur for examination. Head of School of Wildlife Forensic and Health, Jabalpur, Dr Shobha Jawre informed that only forensic examination will identify the specific toxin into the stomach of elephants. She added that the scientific investigations are underway and it will take some time to ascertain authentic reason behind the death of elephants. First of a kind incident involving death of 10 wild elephants According to the wildlife experts, this is likely to be the first incident in India where ten wild elephants have died in just three days. On Tuesday, four elephants were found dead in the Salkhania and Bakeli regions of the Khitoli range during regular patrols by forest guards. Following this, an additional six elephants died on Wednesday and Thursday.