Source: twitter.com

Lightning-related deaths are quite common and often reported from different regions in India. However, a very strange and miserable event happened in Assam, when 18 elephants were allegedly slain by lightning strikes. It was the first time that large-scale causality was reported among Assam elephants in nearly two decades. In this tragic incident, at least 18 elephants died in a flash of alleged lightning at a forest in the Nagaon district of Assam, which supposedly happened on 13th May. It took place in Kandoli Proposed Reserved Forest (PRF) in the Kathiatoli range of the Nagaon forest division. The local villagers informed the Forest Department of Nagaon, Assam, about the death of the 18 elephants and the officers rushed to the spot and found the elephants lying lifelessly on the ground.

According to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Amit Sahay, that area was quite remote and it was found that carcasses were lying in two groups. 14 were lying atop the Bamuni hill and the other 4 were found at the bottom of the hill. This area comes under the Barhampur police station in central Assam. Local officials and villagers paid their tributes to these 18 wild Asiatic elephants. With a tearful goodbye, people also offered some flowers to these gentle giants' carcasses and performed their last rites as well.

Forest officials said the report of the elephant’s deaths came on 13th May, in the afternoon, after local villagers informed them. The cause behind the death of the elephants was unclear in the beginning, but soon the officials suspected that the elephants might be killed by lightning. And presently, their initial investigation has found that the elephants were killed due to electrocution caused by lightning.

The bodies of all these giants were buried on 14th May, after a team of veterinarians conducted post-mortem examinations on them. Some remains have been sent to the state forensic laboratory in Guwahati for further tests. Many people think that these deaths have been caused due to lightning as there were no visible signs of struggles before the elephants died. However, the exact cause will be known only after reports of the post-mortem and forensic examinations of elephants will come. Some experts have also said that without a post-mortem, and other forensic examinations, it is hard to admit the elephants died due to lightning.

Source: twitter.com

This is possibly the first case in India, where such a large number of wild elephants have died together in an incident. Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma has already asked the Forest and Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya to take safeguards, and take all the necessary steps while investigating the case of the deaths of these elephants. Though the initial inquiry revealed that the lightning strike is the cause of these deaths, some wildlife experts have suspected that mass poisoning could likewise be a reason as Assam has earlier witnessed the deaths of elephants due to poisoning, mostly enacted by the local cultivators. A few elephant experts like Vijayanada Choudhary have also said that the initial body forms of elephants do not look like a case of lights. And the forthcoming reports will reveal the cause of the deaths of the elephants.

Numerous extensive and unplanned developments in Assam’s lush green forests have encroached on elephants’ natural habitats, increasing the man vs animal conflicts, with herds of the giant elephants, sometimes destroying agricultural fields and villages and humans killing them afterward. Presently, there is no accurate reason behind this event, and the officials in Assam have created a team to be headed by a senior forest officer and seven veterinarians to review this whole incident of 18 elephants’ deaths.
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Reference:

  • www.aninews.in
  • www.timesofindia.com
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