MP forest dept to test tigers for Covid-19 in wake of unexplained deaths
Officials said the decision was taken after the forensic science laboratory could not reach a conclusion as to the cause of three tigers’ deaths at the reserve since January
Madhya Pradesh forest department’s officials will take blood and oropharyngeal swab samples of tigers in Pench Tiger Reserve, Seoni, to test for coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The officials said the decision was taken after the forensic science laboratory could not reach a conclusion as to the cause of three tigers’ deaths at the reserve since January. The reserve, at last count, had 53 tigers.
The forest officers claimed Covid-19 testing of tigers will take place for the first time in India.
Pench Tiger Reserve field director VS Parihar said, “For the past 20 days, six forest department officials on two elephants are trying to locate tigers in the forest to tranquillise them and take samples. They are yet to find any as it is a difficult task--the rainy season has started.”
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“The decision was taken because three tigers aged between 5 and 8 years have died in Pench Tiger Reserve since January. The post mortem and FSL reports ruled out the possibility of poaching as no poison, electrocution or injury mark was found on the tigers’ carcasses,” he added.
“To know the cause of the tigers’ deaths, the Pench Tiger Reserve administration wrote to the head office of the forest department last month, and requested for permission to take the samples of five tigers randomly. The samples will be tested for Covid-19 test and other viral diseases,” said Alok Kumar, principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF), wildlife department.
Last year, wildlife activist Sangeeta Dogra filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a thorough investigation into the death of a 10-year-old tiger in Pench. She said she suspected it had died of Covid-19. The apex court asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests to ascertain the cause of death.
However, the state government denied that the cause of death was Covid-19.
Dogra said, “Last year, a tiger died due to Covid 19 in Pench but the state government showed a forged report from a veterinary institute in Jabalpur to prove that it was not a Covid-19 death. This year too, I filed a petition as the MP government defied the order of NTCA which stated that tigers reserves and national parks must be closed in wake of a lioness’s death in Chennai due to Covid-19.”
“They are doing random sampling as they suspect that coronavirus is spreading in the forests of MP. This is a serious issue and needs to be addressed soon to save the wildlife,” she added.
“We haven’t received any reports from MP or other states on tigers in the wild suspected of contracting Covid-19,” said Soumitra Dasgupta, inspector general of forests (wildlife), under the Union ministry of environment.
With inputs from Bhojraj Raghuvanshi from Chhindwara
