In an incident that shook wildlife enthusiasts, carcasses of three elephants were found in Asurakhola forest in Odisha’s Deogarh district on Sunday.
While the forest department said severe infection could have lead to the death of three female elephants, environmentalists initially were not ready to accept the theory.
“We have detected bodies of three female elephants from Tileibani section of Asurkhol forest. From the appearance, it seems to be a case of severe infection. While blood vomited by the elephant turned black, there was blood clot noticed at anus section of the jumbos,” B.B.K Biswasi, Divisional Forest Officer of Deogarh, told The Hindu over phone on Sunday.
Mr. Biswasi said: “We have sought assistance of expert veterinarians from the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT). Once they carry tests and find the reason, we will chalk out next course of action.”
It needs to be mentioned that an ailing pregnant female elephant had died despite treatment in the same forest on June 9. The DFO said the elephant had severe throat infection.
“Natural death of three elephants together has to be first ruled out. This could be a case of poisoning or even electrocution by live wire trap. The Forest department often ascribes wrong causes of death like disease or conflict or old age, which is basically meant to divert attention from suspected cases of poaching,” said Biswajit Mohanty, former member of the National Board for Wildlife.
He said: “In most cases the bodies were found after weeks in highly decomposed state, making it easier to conceal the truth but difficult to catch the culprits. This is clearly unacceptable since lakhs of rupees are spent every month on trackers who are supposed to follow elephant herds on a 24 x 7 basis. A dead elephant should have been detected within hours, which is not happening.”
According to Mr. Mohanty-headed Wildlife Society of Orissa, an NGO, the annual average number of elephant deaths during the period 1990-2000 was 33. During 2010 to 2016, the death average jumped to 70, which is double the historical average. In the meanwhile, there is no substantial change in elephant population of the State --1979: 2044 elephants and in 2015: 1954 elephants. The rising annual death rate indicates the shocking status, the wildlife expert pointed out.
Since beginning of this year, at least 17 elephants were found dead in different forests of the State. In many cases, there were clear indications of poaching.
Mr. Mohanty said: “We believe that Odisha has less than 100 mature and healthy breeding tuskers. Given the current rate of poaching of around 20 to 25 per year, this group will be finished off in 5 to 6 years imperilling the future of elephants.”
