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After six elephants of Karlapat wildlife sanctuary in Odisha’s Kalahandi district died of a fatal bacterial disease, forest department officials are looking at a novel tech-oriented solution to track the health of the jumbos.
Six elephants in the sanctuary have succumbed to haemorrhagic septicaemia or Pasteurellosis in a span of two weeks, which is the highest in any forest in India. Odisha’s forest department has started using drone cameras in the wildlife range to track the movement of the elephants and keep tabs on their health.
The drones, which are fitted with thermal sensing cameras, will detect the body temperature of the elephants and help veterinary physicians, forest department officials and wildlife experts diagnose any disease the tuskers may be suffering from.
Officials have also placed bananas laced with antibiotics at various places in the forest. The cameras will help in tracking the elephants consuming the bananas and to keep an eye out on the effect of the antibiotics on them.Over a dozen jumbos in the sanctuary will be monitored.
Between February 1 and 12, six females in an elephant herd in the Karlapat wildlife sanctuary died of haemorrhagic septicaemia, alarming the state’s forest department officials.
Veterinary experts from the Centre of Wildlife Health in Bhubaneswar’s Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology examined the viscera of the elephant carcasses and conducted molecular tests. The experts believe the bacteria may have been transmitted from water buffaloes or cattle reared by the people of 4-5 villages living inside the sanctuary.
Symptoms of the disease include high fever ranging 104°–106°F, restlessness and reluctance to move, hypersalivation and a nasal discharge. The disease mainly affects water buffaloes, cattle, and bison in tropical areas of southeast Asia where the population of water buffaloes is high. Acute infection can persist for up to three days.
The forest department staff are trying to separate the healthy elephants away from the ones which have been infected by the bacterial disease.
“The female elephants move together in a herd and they seem to have been infected by the bacterial disease. We are trying our best to contain the spread and keep a close watch on the infected water bodies. The challenge for us is to keep the infected elephant herd from coming in contact with other herds and animals,” said T Ashok Kumar, divisional forest officer of Kalahandi (south) .
He added that the veterinary staff are vaccinating the domestic cattle in the villages located inside the sanctuary. Villagers have also been alerted about the outbreak.
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