According to officials, a patrolling personnel discovered four dead and five seriously ill elephants at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve on Tuesday.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Vijay N Ambade told, “the cause of death remains undetermined and will be ascertained following post-mortem examinations and further investigation of the area. Multiple teams have been formed, which are investigating all angles as to how the elephants died.”
According to wildlife department officials, during routine patrol on Tuesday afternoon, “staff at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve discovered two wild elephant dead in Reserved Forest (RF) 384 and two more in Protected Forest (PF) 183 A, located in the Salakhaniya Beat of Khitauli and Pataur core ranges, respectively.”
“Shortly after, teams combed the surrounding area and found five additional elephants lying on the ground in an unwell state,” said a senior wildlife department official.
Originally estimated to contain 13 elephants, the impacted herd now includes four dead elephants (three females and one male), five critically ill elephants, and four healthy-looking elephants. “A comprehensive operation is underway, with wildlife health officers and veterinarians from Bandhavgarh and the School of Wildlife Forensic and Health in Jabalpur working urgently to treat the ailing elephants,” the official said.
Teams from Bhopal and Jabalpur’s Specialised Tiger Strike Force (STSF) are also present to look into the incident.
Park officials and vets are concentrating on treating the sick elephants right away in order to stabilise their condition, after consulting with specialists from the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.
According to local sources in Umaria, they are looking into what the elephants consumed before they died, with the theory that the herd may have consumed crops.
In 2018, a population of elephants moved from Chhattisgarh to Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. In 2018, the first herd of 15–20 elephants was sighted. The reserve’s core and buffer regions are home to the elephants, who are now permanent residents.
