The panel has been asked to submit its report within ten days. (File)
Bhopal:
Samples collected this week in connection with the deaths of 10 elephants in three days in Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve will be sent to the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh and the forensic laboratory in Sagar, an official said Friday.
On Tuesday, four wild elephants were found dead in Sankhani and Bakeli under the Khitoli range of the reserve, while four died on Wednesday and two on Thursday.
“We are sending all the samples collected from the field as well as organic ones like viscera, liver, kidneys etc to the IVRI at Izatnagar in UP's Bareli and to the MP forensic laboratory at Sagar,” said Additional Chief Conservator of Forest. (Wildlife) L Krishnamoorthy told PTI of BTR over phone.
He heads the five-member committee appointed by the Mohan Yadav government to probe the tusker deaths in Bandhavgarh, spread across Umaria and Katni districts in eastern Madhya Pradesh.
Mr Krishnamoorthy had earlier said that samples (intestines) of the elephants had been sent to the Jabalpur-based School of Wildlife Forensic and Health (SWFH) to find out any toxins and the cause of death.
He was responding to a question about whether the elephants had consumed toxic pesticides sprayed in the field.
“Only after the reports come in can we come to a conclusion on the cause of death. Post-mortem reports suspect that it could be due to Kodo millets,” Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF-Wildlife) VKN Ambade told PTI .
A senior veterinarian attached to the investigation cited reserve staff members and said the elephants fell to the ground and shuddered before dying.
A ground officer said the forest department has identified six farmers from whose fields the jumbos ate kodo millet, adding reports that will clarify whether pesticides have been mixed or sprayed on the crop.
Meanwhile, a five-member team from the Delhi-based Wildlife Crime Control Bureau continued their investigation into the deaths on the second day of Friday.
Officials said the Nagpur-based regional officer of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Assistant Inspector General of Forests Nandkishore Kale, continued his investigation at BTR.
“The State Tiger Strike Force also visited nearby farmlands, paddy fields, water bodies etc. in connection with the kodo millets. All the dead elephants were part of a herd of 13. One of the dead elephants was male. The other three in the herd are healthy. They are being monitored,” said another official.
Krishnamoorthy earlier said that veterinarians had suggested the possibility of (the presence of) mycotoxins associated with kodo millet.
Mycotoxins generate cyclopiazonic acid that causes poisoning in kodo millet, he said.
The forest department veterinarians are consulting experts from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Bareilly, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun, the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar and the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad to determine details. get about the mycotoxins, he said.
The SIT and the special task force are investigating the matter from all angles, the official added.
The Krishnamoorthy-led panel has been asked to submit its report within ten days.
Some wildlife experts say this may be the first time in the country that 10 elephants have died in three days.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
