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Anthrax scare in Periyar Tiger Reserve

Kumily: The Periyar Tiger Reserve in Idukki district has been hit by an anthrax scare after preliminary tests on a dead elephant showed it had the disease, officials said.

The elephant died in the reserve on September 10 and samples of its blood sent to the Centre for Infectious Diseases in Thiruvananthapuram had tested positive for anthrax.

Some more tests are being done and results are expected within five days, Padma Mohanty, divisional forest officer of the reserve said on Thursday.

She refuted reports that some more animals in the reserve had died of anthrax in the past five days. A sambar deer died on Wednesday following a miscarriage and a wild bison found dead near the Mangla Devi temple had died of natural causes.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities have decided to vaccinate all cattle in the fringe areas of the reserve in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Ms. Mohanty said. The Theni forest authorities had been intimated. Checkposts had been informed to stop any cattle without ear-tags from entering the reserve and a crisis management team had been formed, officials said. — PTI

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