Another elephant found dead in Karlapat sanctuary, 6 jumbos die in 14 days (State of Odisha, India)
Another elephant found dead in Karlapat sanctuary, 6 jumbos die in 14 days
(State of Odisha, India)
The Tribune India
February 15, 2021
See link
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/another-elephant-found-dead-in-karlapat-sanctuary-6-jumbos-die-in-14-days-212717
for photo.
BHAWANIPATNA: Another female elephant was found dead near a waterbody at
Karlapat Wildlife sanctuary in Odisha’s Kalahandi district, a Forest
official said.
With the latest jumbo death, six elephants five female and a calf - have
died at Karlapat Wildlife sanctuary within 14 days of this month, the
official said.
According to the 2018 census the sanctuary had 17 elephants.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kalahandi South Division Ashok Kumar and
his team and veterinary doctors are camping in the area undertaking
surveillance. “The death of elephants is due to Haemorrhage Septicemia
(HS),” the DFO said.
However, the DFO said that there was no such report about the death of
other animals in the sanctuary and also the cattle entering the forest from
nearby villages.
Coordinator from Centre for Wildlife Health, OUAT (Odisha University of
Agriculture and Technology), Bhubaneswar, Niranjan Sahu after visiting
Karlapat sanctuary said: “The death of elephants is believed to be by HS.
The postmortem report and laboratory report of one dead elephant is hinting
at HS (Haemorrhage Septicemia).
Cattle do get infected by HS if not vaccinated, Sahu said, adding that this
is perhaps the first incident where elephants are also infected with HS.
He said vaccination of domesticated cattle in the villages located inside
the sanctuary and sanitization is in progress by veterinary staff supported
by forest staff.
Chief District Veterinary Officer (CDVO) Dr Chaitanya Sethi said that as of
now there is no reported death of domesticated cattle in the area due to
HS. During October there was vaccination but given the present scenario,
further vaccination cover is in progress by veterinary staff now.
Local people and wildlife lovers, however, do not take the incident
lightly. Pramod Kumar Singhdeo, a local from Karlapat belonging to the
erstwhile Zamindar family of Karlapat and having in-depth knowledge on the
flora fauna of the locality, said: “The forest department has dug salt
ponds in different places to provide salted drinking water to the wild
animals.”
The possibility of poachers poisoning some ponds to kill wild animals
cannot be ruled out, he said demanding an investigation into the matter.
“The water from the salt ponds should be sent for laboratory analysis to
ascertain the fact. It may also happen that the cattle infected with HS
might have transmitted infection in the salt pond which affected the
elephants also,” he said.
However, forest department officials rejected the second argument saying
that no domestic cattle are found to have the HS infection.
Another local person claimed that though the forest department had earlier
installed CCTV Cameras in several spots to monitor the movement of wild
animals, those were removed for unknown reasons.
Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary is spread over 175 square kilometre area and is
famous for the lush green dry deciduous forest, varieties of flora and
fauna and animals like elephant, leopard, Gaur, Sambar, barking deer,
Indian wolf, wild dog, wild pig, sloth bear, Malabar giant squirrel and
Pangolin.
This apart a variety of birds like peafowl, peacock, hornbill, Red jungle
fowl, partridges, Spurfawl, Hill Myna, Brahminy kite and reptilian fauna
includes Mugger, crocodile, monitor lizard, snakes both poisonous and
non-poisonous are found in the sanctuary.
The forest consists of flora like Sal, Bija, Asan, Harida, Amala, Bahada
and Bamboo and varieties of medicinal plants.
This sanctuary was first notified in 1969 by the conservator of Forest and
was formally notified under the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 in 1992.
The undulated topography of the sanctuary, with hills, valleys and
perennial streams including Sagada river and its tributaries with deep
water pools in places gives it a unique charm, officials said.
There are several small and big waterfalls inside the sanctuary like
Phurlijharan, Ghusrigudi, Dumnijhola, Kamalajharan, Koyirupa, Kuang and
Raja Rani.