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Wild dogs found dead in Kanha

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, APRIL 7. Many wild dogs were recently found dead under mysterious circumstances in the buffer zone of the prestigious Kanha Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh.

According to initial reports reaching here, at least 10 wild dogs were found dead inside the Kanha Tiger Reserve on March 18. On being contacted, the Kanha

Tiger Reserve Director told The Hindu today that five wild dogs were found dead in the buffer zone of Kanha about a fortnight ago. Their carcass was found lying in a small area between Mukhi and Baihar on the Balaghat side and it was next to impossible to ascertain the cause of their death, he said adding that wild dogs normally do not perish like this.

When contacted, State Forest department sources told this correspondent that initially everything was done to keep the death of so many wild dogs a close guarded secret. Sources went on to add that wildlife health experts were not contacted immediately and nothing was done by the Park management to conduct an autopsy to find out how an entire pack of wild dogs was wiped out from a small area within the buffer zone of Kanha.

It was extremely important to find out whether the mass mortality was due to some disease or the wild dogs had died after drinking water from some poisoned water hole. Accidental findings during recent postmortems in Kanha and the Pench Tiger Reserve have already revealed that wild animals in these protected areas have been suffering from lung worm infection or feline pan leukemia (FPL), which is an infectious disease.

It is being emphasised by wildlife health experts here that that there should be maximum coordination between park managers and wildlife health experts to ensure that a Kanha like situation does not get repeated in other protected areas.

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Wild dogs found dead in Kanha

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