Three elephant calves have died within 17 days in Chhattisgarh’s Dharamjaigarh forest division, prompting the forest department to call an expert team from Dehradun, Bareilly, and Jabalpur to investigate the causes of the deaths and train local staff.
A calf died after getting trapped in a marshy patch inside a pond area, despite rescue efforts. The elephant’s mother reportedly remained near the trapped calf for hours and attempted to free it by uprooting nearby trees.
Officials said the three deaths have raised fresh concerns over shrinking forest cover, increasing human-animal conflict, and the condition of water bodies inside elephant habitats.
The team will examine the causes of death, study the forest conditions, and train local staff in postmortem procedures, sample collection, and wildlife response.
Eight elephant calves have died in the forest division over the past five months due to drowning, getting trapped in marshland, and other unexplained circumstances.
The expert team is expected to spend time inside forest areas to assess habitat conditions and recommend preventive measures to reduce elephant mortality.
