MP govt forms advisory panel for better management of wild elephants

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh forest department has constituted an elephant advisory committee for better management of the work of rescue and rehabilitation of the wild tuskers, an official said on Thursday.

The move comes after the death of 10 jumbos at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in MP's Umaria district last month.

As per officials, it was not a case of 'poisoning’ and the viscera reports suggested that toxicity came from the consumption of large quantities of Kodo millet plants.

"An order has been issued on Wednesday for the constitution of a nine-member committee headed by the additional principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife)," Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (wildlife) VKN Ambade, who gave the executive directive, told PTI over phone.

The committee will have field directors of tiger reserves and an elephant expert from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, he said.

"It will give advice on how to capture the pachyderms, and rehabilitate them. It will help better the elephants' management in the wild. You can't keep a wild elephant in captivity for good," the official said.

"The advice and ideas of the committee will come handy in taking proper discussions, without haphazardness, to rescue elephants," he added.

An aggressive elephant trampled to death two persons and injured another person in the BTR last week. The jumbo was tranquilised and captured on Sunday evening more than 34 hours after it ran amok.

On October 29, four wild elephants were found dead in Sankhani and Bakeli under the Khalil range of the BTR, while four others died on October 30 and two on October 31.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Sunday suspended two senior officials of the BTR for lapses after a high-level probe team submitted its report in connection with the deaths.