LIGHTNING KILLS 18 ELEPHANTS IN ASSAM, CLAIM GOVT OFFICIALS

GUWAHATI: Around 18 wild elephants have been killed, most likely due to lightning, in Assam’s Nagaon district, officials said on Thursday.

“The incident took place in the Bamuni area of Barhampur on Wednesday. Our officials came to know about it on Thursday. Teams of forest and veterinary officials are at the spot,” Nagaon deputy commissioner Kavitha Padmanabham said.

The deaths took place in an area with small hillocks and forests. Officials suspect the elephants, which were part of a herd, were staying close to each other when lightning struck.

“Preliminary investigation of the spot suggests lightning could be the reason for the deaths,” Vasanthan, divisional forest officer (Nagaon), said. “We are trying to recover all the bodies and conduct a post-mortem examination. The exact cause of the deaths would be known only after the results are out, most likely by Friday,” he added.

According to a 2017 census, Assam (5,719) has the second highest number of elephants in India after Karnataka (6,049). Every year, several elephants are killed in mananimal conflict. In 2019, the number of such deaths was nearly 80.

Wildlife experts said this was the single largest instance of deaths of wild elephants in one go. They suspected that there could be other reasons as well. “A tragedy of such scale is unheard of in Assam. It is a big loss. While lightning has been suspectedtobethecause, mass poisoning of the pachyderms shouldn’tberuledout,”said Bibhab Talukdar, noted elephant expert and CEO of Aaranyak, a wildlife NGO.