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Topic: Karlapat Wild Life Sanctuary

Why in News?

• According to a preliminary report by a central team set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the death of six elephants at Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandi in January-February was due to haemorrhagic septicemia caused by bacteria Pastuerella multoceda.
• The elephants are likely to have contracted the bacteria from cattle residing in a village, inside the sanctuary.

About the Disease

• Pastuerella multoceda is a common bacteria found in the respiratory tract of herbivores, especially in cattle. Only in times of stress in the animal, or when the animal has low immunity or is unhealthy – as is the case with the cattle in this particular village — that the bacteria multiplies rapidly and moves from the respiratory tract to the bloodstream.
• This then causes diarrhoea and often haemorrhagic septicemia, which can be fatal.

• Haemorrhagic septicaemia is a contagious bacterial disease which infects animals that come in contact with contaminated water or soil.
• The respiratory tract and lungs of the animals are affected, leading to severe pneumonia.
• The disease generally spreads in the period right before and after the monsoons. It can affect cattle, buffalo and other animals.

• The disease affects mainly water buffaloes, cattle, and bison in tropical areas of Southeast Asia where the population of water buffaloes is high.
• Acute infection can persist up to three days and less often 5 days. The disease and is characterised by high fever ranging 104°–106°F, restlessness and reluctance to move, hypersalivation and nasal discharge.

Contamination

• The cattle would have passed on the disease to the elephants through contamination of the soil through their faecal droppings or contamination of the water bodies.
• The disease is then believed to have swept through the herd through direct contact. There are nine elephants in this particular herd, out of which seven are dead from the disease.

About Sanctuary

• Karlapat sanctuary is spread over an area of 175 square km in Odisha’s Kalahandi district.
• Karlapat wildlife sanctuary home to tigers, leopards, sambars, nilgais, barking deer, mouse deer and a wide variety of birds like green munia, great eared-nightjar and various reptiles, apart from elephants.
• This apart a variety of birds like peafowl, peacock, hornbill, Red jungle fowl, partridges, Spurfawl, Hill Myna, Brahminy kite and reptilian fauna includes Mugger, crocodile, monitor lizard, snakes both poisonous and non-poisonous are found in the sanctuary.
• The forest consists of flora like Sal, Bija, Asan, Harida, Amala, Bahada and Bamboo and varieties of medicinal plants.