Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed Monday his concerns over the death of six elephants during past two weeks in the Karlapat sanctuary in Kalahandi district. He asked concerned officials to take steps to prevent further elephant deaths in the sanctuary.
Naveen conducted a meeting in this regard through video conferencing. He directed the Forest & Environment and Fisheries & Animal Resources Development departments consult experts both from Odisha and outside the state to prevent the spread of infections leading to the death of the pachyderms.
The Odisha government has also ready sought help from the IG of the Project Elephant and the Director of Wildlife Institute of India.
Naveen also asked the district administration and DFO to ensure vaccination of domestic animals in the nearby villages of the sanctuary. The officials were asked to disinfect water bodies inside the sanctuary and sent samples to labs for tests. Out of the 43 water bodies in the sanctuary, 25 have been disinfected so far. Work is on to disinfect the remaining water bodies, sources said.
According to opinions of experts, the elephants died in the sanctuary due to Hemorrhagic Septicemia after getting infected with bacteria named as the Pasteurella Multocida. Out of eight elephants of a herd in the sanctuary, six have already died due to the Hemorrhagic Septicemia.
The sources further stated measures have been taken to track the remaining two elephants of the herd and ensure that they do not get infected. A total of 10 teams of the Forest personnel have been formed to keep a track on the movement of the elephants.
Naveen Patnaik, Karlapat sanctuary, Elephants, Bacteria, Experts