Rare crocodiles die, India tumbles

Three decades after being saved from the threat of extinction, the rare Indian crocodile, also known as the Gharial, is dying on the banks of the Chambal River. The forest rangers of this country still cannot explain this.

Since mid-December, Chambal National Wildlife Refuge has confirmed 76 cases of crocodile death along the river, starting in the state of Madhya Pradesh, central India, and then spreading to Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh states.

Gadiraju Sudhakar, Chambal forest ranger, said the first autopsies indicated that crocodiles died of cirrhosis and stomach ulcers. Subsequent tests showed that graphite levels in crocodile liver 'though not toxic but could damage the immune system,' Sudhakar added. But things get even more complicated when many other species in the Chambal River ecosystem, including dozens of fish species that are the food of the Gharial, remain healthy.

India's rare Gharial Crocodile
(Photo: Madrascrocodilebank)

Subsequent tests on many species of fish found high levels of graphite. But experts claim that the amount of coal in both fish and Gharial crocodiles has not been fatal. Environmental activists are pressing, forcing forest rangers to clarify the source of graphite and explain why crocodiles die while their hunting prey is unaffected.

Gharial crocodile originating from South Asia is one of the most seriously threatened freshwater crocodiles. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) argues that this species has completely disappeared from its former habitat in Pakistan, Bhutan and Myanmar.

The organization estimates that only about 1,300 Gharial crocodiles survive in nature, mainly in India. Recently, the International Nature Conservancy (WCU) has not called the status of this species 'threatened' anymore but switched to using the word 'extremely threatened'.

Environmentalists and the Indian Ministry of Forestry believe that the recent number of crocodiles has reduced the number of crocodiles to less than 200 pairs.

Since 1979, under pressure from conservationists, the Indian government has had to establish a protected area along the banks of the Chambal River to prevent crocodile snatching; At the same time, hatch eggs and keep young crocodiles to protect them from predators.

According to the Central Indian Pollution Management Board (based in New Delhi), the Chambal River is one of the cleanest rivers in the country. The Ministry of Forestry suspects that the origin of graphite is from the Yamuna River. The river concentrates industrial waste from the capital and some neighboring industrial cities and into the Chambal River downstream. Fish often swim upstream to find clean water, especially in the rainy season.

There has not been any investigation to find the source of graphite. Devendra Swarup, head of the veterinary medicine department of the Veterinary Research Institute (in Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh) - where graphite has been discovered in crocodile liver - emphasizes that support from specialists is needed. International experts to solve the problem, otherwise, it could seriously harm the Indian wildlife system in the future.

Conservationists say that the massive death of the gharial is remarkable because it may be the first signal that the river has been polluted and warned of serious threats to the entire birth system. Thai

DONG QUANG