Mass death of gharials foxes UP forest department

LUCKNOW: The mysterious death of 16 gharials in the Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary spread over 5,000 sq km along the Chambal river has foxed the UP forest department (UPFD).

The unprecedented deaths are a first in the history of the sanctuary established in 1978. 

The sanctuary falls in two other states (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) as well and is known as an unrivalled haven for the endangered gharial. There are over 1,000 gharials in the sanctuary.

“We can’t say with certainty what may have caused the deaths,” UP’s chief wildlife warden DNS Suman told DNA. The post-mortem report lists liver cirrhosis and lung damage as the immediate causes. But UPFD doctors are clueless.

“It might be due to fungal, bacterial or viral infection. We are also not ruling out acute water pollution as the cause of the deaths,” Suman said. Viscera of the gharials have been sent for examination to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly, while water samples have been sent for forensic examination. 

The forest department is perplexed as no other species living in the Chambal region, including crocodiles, turtkes and dolphins, has been affected. “If the gharial deaths are due to infection, other species would have also been affected,” said a senior official. 

Most of the gharials were found dead over a stretch of about 12 km near the Sahson Ghat in Etawah district of UP. Twelve corpses were found on the UP side and four on the MP side of the sanctuary. The first dead gharial was spotted by fishermen last Saturday.

“Forest department officials are to be blamed for the deaths,” says Rajiv Chauhan, secretary, Society for Conservation of Nature, an NGO working for the conservation of the gharial. It is no secret that rampant fishing goes on in the Chambal sanctuary despite a ban.  

Worse, the fishermen cut off the protruding snouts of the gharials or kill them when they get entangled in fishing nets. Besides, fishing also cuts into the gharials’ food supplies. 

Meanwhile, UPFD officials have alerted their counterparts in MP and Rajasthan and a full-scale combing operation has been launched to map the extent of damage. But considering that the sanctuary is spread over 400 km, the task could take longer than anticipated.

g_deepak@dnaindia.net