Death of 18 elephants atop Bamuni Hills: Evidence and reports that led to the conclusion of their death in accidental electrocution due to lightning in an area gripped by man-elephant conflict

The incident:

On May 13, 2021, 18 wild elephants died atop Bamuni Hills in Kandali Protected Reserve Forest under Kathiatoli Forest Range of Nagaon Forest Division in Assam. The unnatural death of the elephants triggered suspicion that the incident could be due to revenge killing, electrocution or poisoning. Some experts, however, claimed that elephants died after being struck by lightning. Nature lovers in the state and across the world demanded a fair probe for ascertaining the actual cause of death of the elephants. High intensity of human elephant conflict in the area triggered the suspicion of a foul play.

Photo with special arrangement

On June 2, the Investigation Officer and Deputy Conservator of Forest K.K. Deori submitted the Investigation Report on the cause of death of the elephants.

Conclusion in the Investigation Report

“Having gone through all the evidences at hand, observations, reports available and all enquiries made in and around the PO (Place of Occurrence), it is seen that that there does not appear to be any foul play such as conscious attempt of electrocution, revenge killing, poisoning, anthrax outbreak, etc. Hence it can be deduced from the evidences, as available, which point to the cause of death of the 18 Asiatic elephants by accidental electrocution due to lightning.”

The evidence that led to the conclusion :

1)The Post-mortem Report:

The authorised team of veterinarians had submitted detailed post-mortem report on 27-05-2021.

The diagnosis of the post-mortem report states, “from the available history, detailed study of the circumstantial evidence at the site, study of gross and histopathological lesions, laboratory reports nullifying the presence of Anthrax like bacilli and any toxins or its metabolites in the submitted samples and correlation with the available meteorological data that prevailed during that period, in our opinion, the 18 elephants that were found dead in the Kandali hills have died due to electrocution by lightning”.

2)Preliminary report on lightning events over Nagaon district area in Assam on 12 May, 2021 prepared by NESAC, Umiam, Meghalaya

The cloud to ground (CG) lightning are the lightning that are life threatening. We also mapped the CG lightning exclusively. there was one CG lightning hitting exactly the area where elephant bodies were found. We found a strong negative lightning flash within the box where the elephant body was found with a peak current of 39 kA at 3:58 UTC (9:28 IST). The box dimension is taken as 2 km X 2 km as the lightning location accuracy is approximately 1 km.

“A large number of lightning strikes were found surrounding the area where the elephant bodies were found. The total lightning flashes reached up to 350 numbers and CG flash were 150 in every two hours in between 2-6 UTC. That is a clear indication of the high flash rate over the area and severity of the storm.”

Why there were no old females or adult males among the dead

Dr. Samarjit Ojha, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography , Nawgong Colellege and former(appointed) Honorary Wildlife Warden of Nagaon n Division, also closely associated with the Forest Department in human elephant conflict management, who has assisted the investigation, stated that 18 dead individuals were part of a larger herd and they seemed to have huddled together with the calf and juveniles in the center when the lightning and the thunderstorm struck on the morning of 12^th May, 2021. These 18 were part of a larger domicile hers of about 20-30 individuals which is usually observed roaming in the area. There were no old females or adult males among the dead. The Makhanas(tusker less males) are usually kept away from the hers by the matriarch due to the presence of calves and juveniles and this behaviour might have saved the makhanas and other individuals of the herd from similar fate of the 18 individuals that got killed.

Site Examination based on Meteorological reports

Four number of trees bearing signs of lightning were observed at the P.O. with chipping and peeling of strisp of barks, greying green coulor of leaves with leaves rolled inward ( indicating partial burning as the vegetation in the area was still wet due to rains). One tree was split vertically with burn evidence along the interior part of the split,

Action to find cause of death:

Immediately after the incident, an Investigating Officer (I/O) was appointed on May 13, 2021 under Section 50(8) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, by the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW), Assam, to investigate into the reported sudden unnatural death of the elephants.

The Range Officer, Kathiatoli Range, too, had registered an offence under section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972 vide No. KT/1 of 2021-22 with due intimation to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nagaon.

The team to investigate the matter

A team of qualified veterinarians including the District Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Officer, Nagaon; Forest Veterinary Officer of Assam State Zoo Division; Forest Veterinary Officer, Kazirana National Park; three Assistant Professors of Pathology and Microbiology Department of College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agriculture University, Khanapara; one Veterinary Doctor, WWF India, Guwahati Office and one Veterinary Doctor, Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, Kaziranga National Park, Bokakhat, was constituted for carrying out post-mortem of the elephants with relevant investigations as per procedure and for submitting a detailed report. Two Veterinary Doctors from the North-Eastern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Khanapara also joined the above team of veterinarians under direction of the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department.

The office of the Deputy Director, Animal Health Care Centre (AHCC), North Eastern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (NERDDL), Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Department, Government of Assam submitted its Autopsy Report on June 2, 2021 which states, “As per in situ spot evidence, the death of the elephants in the herd may not be attributed to any infectious pathological agent or any toxin or poison”.

The Investigation Officer on completion of his investigation and on the basis of the post-mortem report submitted by the team of veterinarians, the autopsy report submitted by the office of the Deputy Director, AHCC, NERDDL, Government of Assam, a preliminary technical report on meteorological data obtained from the North East Satellite Application Centre (NESAC), Umiam, Meghalaya, and other evidences gathered and statement of the fringe communities recorded during the investigation, has submitted a detailed report on June 3, 2021 the CWLW, Assam.

The report of the Investigation Officer with annexures has been forwarded to the Government of Assam by the CWLW. The Investigation Report states, “There does not appear to be any foul play such as conscious attempt of electrocution, revenge killing, poisoning, Anthrax outbreak etc. Hence it can be deduced from the evidences available, which point to the cause of death of the 18 elephants by accidental electrocution due to lightning”.

A copy of the Investigation Report has also been sent to the DFO, Nagaon Division for submitting the same to the relevant court of law in Nagaon District with reference to the offence No. KT/1 of 2021- 22 under the provision of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Experts' concern

The matter was also taken up with the experts and organization at the international and national levels by the CWLW, Assam, seeking views and comments on the incident based on the preliminary report of the team of veterinarians that was submitted by the team on 14-05-2021, and photographic evidences collected at the site on 14th May, 2021. Comments received from Dr. Markus Hofmeyr, Wildlife Veterinarian, Director, Rhino Recovery Fund, and Mr. Vivek Menon, Chair, Asian Elephant Specialist Group, IUCN suggest that the cause of death may be suspected to be a lightning strike as such incidents are not uncommon.

On the basis of findings of the team of veterinarians, of the office of the Deputy Director, AHCC, NERDDL, Government of Assam, Laboratory reports provided by the Directorate of FSL, Guwahati, the CVSc, AAU, Khanapara, preliminary technical report obtained from the NESAC on the meteorological data that is correlated with the statement recorded by the I/O from the fringe villagers, findings of the I/O and the comments/views received from the experts of the national and international level, it is logically opined that the sudden and tragic death of 18 (eighteen) elephants in the Kandali PRF, may not be attributed to retaliatory killing by poisoning or electrocution or any deadly disease but to the cause of accidental electrocution by lightning that occurred on the fateful day of 12th May, 2021 with a strong negative lightning flash with a peak current of 39,000 Amperes at 3:58 UTC (9:28 IST).

Kathiatoli Range Jurisdiction: History of elephant’s Death during 2010-2021

Kathiatoli Forest Range Jurisdiction:Human killed by wild elephants during 2010-2021

Nezine Bureau