Uttar Pradesh probing Chambal gharial deaths

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 6th February, 2008 (IANS)

The Uttar Pradesh forest department, along with NGOs and an international team of veterinarians, has captured some gharials and is examining them to determine why so many of the endangered crocodile-like animals have died in the Chambal sanctuary.

Over 90 gharials have been found dead in the past two months in the area where the Yamuna's polluted waters merge with the Chambal river, while other animals like marsh crocodiles and turtles appeared to be unaffected.

The sanctuary, established in 1978, is spread across Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and protects a 425-km stretch of the Chambal river but the mortalities have been confined to a 70-km stretch from Etawah to Gwalior.

In 2007, the Indian gharial became the only crocodile to be reclassified 'Critically Endangered' by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The latest IUCN Red List puts the number of breeding adult gharials in Nepal and India at fewer than 200.

Officials said the post mortem analysis of the dead gharials found ulcerated lesions in the stomach, some inflammation in the intestine and high lead concentration in the organs.

Autopsies conducted on four dead gharials on Jan 27 revealed significant gout. Even the feet and tail joints had uric acid deposits. Gout is indicative of kidney failure as a result of toxic poisoning or disease.

However, accidental death or poaching was ruled out due to absence of external injuries.

On Feb 2, gharials matching the size and the age of those that had died earlier were captured from the Ajab Singh Kheda stretch of the Chambal river.

A team of experts from the state forest department, Gharial Conservation Alliance (GCA), Wildlife S.O.S and World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), along with veterinarians from Hong Kong, South Africa, France and the US conducted detailed examinations of the captured gharials and took urine, blood and joint fluid samples.

D.N.S. Suman, chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh, said: 'The death of the gharials is a matter of great concern for the state forest department. We have conducted post mortems of the dead animals and the analysis of samples from live gharials will give us parameters to compare results.'

The animals were micro-chipped for future identification before being released into the river. This initiative will help establish crucial baseline data on the gharials.

Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of Wildlife S.O.S, told IANS: 'Not only do we hope to get to the bottom of the gharial deaths, we are also creating a database on the Indian gharial which will be crucial for the long term conservation of the species in its natural habitat.'

The union ministry of environment and forests has set up a 14-member Gharial Crisis Management Group (CMG) consisting of the forest departments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan along with representatives from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, the Wildlife Institute of India and some NGOS.

The CMG has decided to conduct regular patrolling of the river to identify affected animals. It will rescue and treat them if required.

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