DULIAJAN, Dec 6 - The recovery of the carcasses of a female elephant and a calf in a span of three days in the Joypur rainforest of Dibrugarh district has raised the scare of an anthrax outbreak in the forest area.
It may be mentioned that on December 3, an elephant calf was found dead inside the rainforest situated at Naharkatia. Veterinarians from Guijan and Naharkatia areas suspected that the calf might have died due to anthrax infection.
Now, the recovery of a female elephant carcass inside the rainforest on December 5 has increased the fears of an outbreak. Anthrax is a disease caused by bacillus anthracis, a type of bacteria capable of lying dormant in the form of spores in carcasses and burial grounds of infected animals.
The veterinarians engaged in the rainforest informed that in the past, 18 elephants had died due to anthrax outbreak in Orissa.
To prevent the outbreak, the rainforest officials burnt the carcass of the calf instead of burying it.
Spread over an area of 108 sq km, the rainforest is home to several rare animals such as hoolock gibbon, leopards, stump-tailed macaque, caped langur, flying squirrel, etc. If post-mortem reports confirm infection of anthrax, then it would mean that the other wildlife species in the rainforest are also in grave danger.