Representational Image

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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The Assam floods have devastated human life and wildlife drastically. 

The Kaziranga National Park has been wiped out due to the floods killing more than 60 animals.

Locals report seeing some animals wandering outside the park.

“Due to floods, 80% of Kaziranga National Park is submerged in water,” Director of Kaziranga National Park P Sivakumar said. He added that “so far, 66 animals have died and 170 animals rescued.”

According to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) , a female rhino calf was separated from her mother in the Agartoli range. However, staff of CWRC and Kaziranga National Park rescued it. As of now, it is under care in CWRC’s rescue centre.

Herd of elephants were seen making their way out of this massive puddle of water.

A herd of #elephants making their way through a flooded village in #Majuli, #Assam. Video via honorary wildlife warden Kaushik Baruah but source unknown @the_hindu @abaruah64 pic.twitter.com/SbSSrzCtzG

— Rahul Karmakar (@rahconteur) July 13, 2020

A tiger was spotted taking shelter under a shed.

Assam: A tiger taking shelter, temporarily, at a goat shed at Agartoli Range in #Kaziranga, to escape floods.
The tiger later moved away from the shed.

Park Authorities took utmost care in ensuring safety of both people and the Tiger.

Video:Kaziranga Management pic.twitter.com/Gfe6lKVKk0

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) July 13, 2020

The Assam State Management says that 27 out 33 districts are heavily flooded and more than 2700 villages are submerged in water.

Bloomberg reported that at least 77 people are dead and more than 2 million are displaced.

Source: ANI

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Hundreds of elephants have died in the South African country of Botswana. However, the reason for the increasing death remains unknown.

Botswana is known for its overwhelming elephant population. Throughout these events, cyanide and an anthrax outbreak were prime suspects for the recent death of elephants.

Poachers have often used cyanide, a poisonous chemical for the killing of elephants by pouring this chemical into water bodies. Since the tusks of the elephants remained intact, poaching was ruled out. Also, there might have been similar deaths of other species that fed on the carcasses of the elephants.

Another possibility was an outbreak of anthrax. Over a hundred elephants died last year due to a suspected anthrax outbreak in Botswana. However, the Botswana government ruled out an anthrax outbreak as a cause of elephant deaths.

Most of the carcasses were seen near the water bodies of the Okavango Delta.

Local witnesses reported seeing elephants walk in circles suggesting that the cause may be neurological.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there has been a delay regarding the results of the samples of the carcasses.

“A catastrophic die-off of elephants is happening in northern Botswana, and no one knows why. It is vital that a team of independent experts visit and sample the carcasses before any more elephants die, or this spills over into the local human population,” said National Geographic explorer Niall McCann.

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Xu Jingkun , member of China’s political body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) has proposed vegetarian diet in official receptions of the body’s meetings in the aftermath of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. He expressed his concerns over a second wave of the virus and mooted that the official party meetings go for vegetarian menu.

Xu Jingkun, a member of #CPPCC from Jiangxi Province will propose to promote #vegetarian diet in official receptions during #twosessions. In spite of the central government's ban, wildlife can still be sometimes seen in official reception meals, Xu said. pic.twitter.com/fAzhcG0T1Q

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 19, 2020

China recently banned sale of wild life trade for meat eating purposes. This has affected the livestock farmers who breed wild life such as rat snakes, bamboo rat, beaver, elk, squirrel, cobra, etc. However, the trade remains legal for research and traditional medicine.

Animal rights group Humane Society International (HSI) noted that Hunan and Jiangxi are major wildlife breeding provinces. Revenue from wild life breeding business reached 10 billion Yuan in 2018. China has come up with special packages to help the wildlife trading community as they have been severely affected post-ban of animal sales.

Now the Chinese Communist Party has shifted to serve vegetarian food at state receptions. This will pass a message to the Chinese people to be responsible food consumers.

Looks like, China is all set to record a new chronicle of “vegetarian” dishes.

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