Eighteen elephant remains were found in the jungle of Assam state in northeastern India, authorities said on Friday, who launched an investigation into the cause of their deaths. priori to lightning.
Assam's Forestry Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said he was deeply saddened by the death of these animals.
According to him, the elephants could have been killed by the lightning which struck the forest reserve Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest, in the district of Nagaon, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
A bolt of lightning is believed to have killed a herd of at least 18 #elephants in central # Assam's Nagaon district on Wednesday night.
The incident happened in the hilly Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest, officials said.https: //t.co/idBB5AGwDw
- The Hindu (@the_hindu) May 14, 2021
“It is extremely painful to see the elephants die like this.
But we have to wait for the post-mortem report to know the exact cause of their deaths, ”he told reporters on the spot, about 150 kilometers southeast of Guwahati, the state capital.
The Chief Minister of the State of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said in a statement that he was concerned about the deaths of "so many elephants".
The Assam government sent a team of veterinarians to the Bamuni Hills region, where the elephants died under still mysterious circumstances.
The latter will carry out an autopsy on the dead elephants and submit a report to the authorities.
But some conservationists doubt that so many beasts could have been struck down at the same time.
According to the eminent defender of the environment of Assam, Soumyadeep Datta, who carefully observed the photographs disseminated by the press, the hypothesis of lightning is to be excluded.
The poisoning thesis, another advanced track
"Poisoning could be behind the deaths of these elephants," said Soumyadeep Datta, who heads the nature conservation organization Natures'Beckon. "If the elephants did not die from lightning, the government must ensure that the culprits [...] are brought to justice," Datta continued, eager for the release of the autopsy report judging the "worrying" affair. “This kind of incident where wild elephants are killed by lightning has never happened in Assam or in northeast India. If it is a massacre, immediate action must be taken to arrest the culprits, ”he said.
Bibhab Talukder, also an environmental defender, leader of the Aaranyak wildlife protection organization, for his part does not exclude the hypothesis of lightning. “I have been in contact with activists in Africa […] who told me that incidents of a similar nature had occurred where herds of deer were killed by lightning,” he said. India is home to nearly 30,000 elephants, or about 60% of the wild elephant population in Asia.