Union Environment Ministry sends team to probe elephant deaths at Odisha's Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary

The sudden death of seven elephants in the first two weeks of February following an infection in a reserved forest in Odisha has jolted the Union Environment Ministry, which sent a team of investigators to probe the deaths.

While six deaths were known prior to the team’s visit, the team stumbled upon the seventh death – the carcass of a newborn calf in putrefied condition – during their investigation at the Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandi.

All the seven dead elephants (five adults and two calves) were females. Of the five elephants, three were pregnant. One calf was 15 days old while the other was a newborn. According to the 2018 census the sanctuary had 17 elephants.

Preliminary findings by Orissa Veterinary College have identified haemorrhagic septicemia as the cause of death. The disease was triggered by a bacteria called pasteurella multocida.

Samples from the seventh carcass as well as from a dead cow, suspected to have also died 15 days before detection in a small stream near the sanctuary, have been sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar and Orissa Veterinary College for disease diagnosis.

The samples from the six elephants collected earlier were also sent to IVRI for confirmatory diagnosis.

Niranjan Sahoo, the coordinator from the Centre for Wildlife Health at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar and a member of the central team, said, "The death of elephants is believed to be by haemorrhagic septicemia. Cattle get infected by HS if not vaccinated. This is perhaps the first incident where elephants are also infected with HS.”

The causative germ, pasteurella multocida, is generally prevalent in the tonsils of herbivores and can be shed during periods of stress. The disease is suspected to have been transmitted from the cattle residing in the sanctuary, the Union Environment Ministry says in a statement.

The rich habitat of the Kalrapat Wildlife Sanctuary is extremely good for elephants and the water as well as present climatic conditions provide a conducive condition for the survival of elephants. The forest also houses leopard, gaur, sambar deer, barking deer, Indian wolf, wild dog, wild pig, sloth bear and pangolin

After the jumbo deaths, a special vaccination drive has been undertaken under which nearly 6,000 cattle, both inside the sanctuary and in the fringe villages, were vaccinated. The forest and veterinary departments have been advised to work in coordination to prevent the further spread of the disease.

The final report on the investigation of the death of the seven elephants at the Kalrapat Sanctuary shall be submitted by the Central Investigation Team after testing the samples collected from the sites of death of elephants.