Drought kills jumbos in Veerappan country - Times of India

COIMBATORE: It's been nearly a decade since Veerappan, the brigand who is suspected to have killed at least 200 elephants, was killed. However, the forests of Sathyamangalam on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border remain a cursed territory for jumbos. According to data provided by the state forest department under an RTI application, at least 107 elephants have been found dead in this sanctuary, recently declared a tiger reserve, in four years between 2008 and 2012. No, poachers are not to be blamed for these deaths, assure foresters, who do not want to be named. They attribute the deaths to natural causes, especially the impact of an extended drought on the elephant habitat. At least seven jumbos have perished in the last two weeks due to lack of proper drinking water in the forests as per forest department's own admission. Foresters as well as experts from World Wide Fund For Nature, who have studied the elephants in this r egion, blame parasitic worms for the jumbo deaths. The worms breed in contaminated water which the jumbos are forced to consume since a lot of natural water holes inside the sanctuary have dried up. However, wildlife enthusiasts allege that the link has not been clearly established as tissue samples of the dead animals were not tested in any recognized laboratory. Forest department has not been forthcoming on the questions raised by wildlife activists. But all are in agreement that the severe drought has had a terrible impact on wildlife in the reserve. Interestingly, the vulture population here has risen and experts have attributed this trend to the easy availability of animal carcasses. "The scarce water available in Sathyamangalam is totally contaminated. As poaching is almost zero and electrocution cases are rare, it is alarming that such a large number of elephants have died in the past five years. But the lethargy of the forest department towards send ing samples of the dead animals to recognized laboratories to establish the cause of the deaths is shocking. Forest veterinarians have the habit of terming most deaths as 'normal' to avoid the risk of following up each incident. Even to address the issue of worms, it is mandatory to have laboratory tests done,'' says D Bhoominathan, landscape coordinator with World Wide Fund. via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEMCEAPxySV_eJbA2dY0Mf7Uh4Muw&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Drought-kills-jumbos-in-Veerappan-country/articleshow/20610639.cms

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