Context: Recently, six elephants died of Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (HS) in Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary located in Odisha’s Kalahandi district.

About Hemorrhagic Septicemia

• Hemorrhagic septicemia is a bacterial disease that mainly affects cattle and water buffalo.
• It is an important cause of livestock mortality in tropical regions of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
• The clinical signs usually progress rapidly from fever and depression to death, within hours to a few days.
• Young animals are mainly affected in endemic regions, and outbreaks are particularly common during rainy weather, when the organism can spread readily.
• Because the disease course is so short, few animals can be treated in time, and recovery is rare.

Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary

• Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Kalahandi district of Odisha.
• It lies within the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests ecoregion.
• The sanctuary was first notified in 1969 by the conservator of Forest and was formally notified under the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 in 1992.
• It is home to a plethora wildlife animals and birds such as leopard, gaur, sambar, nilgai, barking deer, mouse deer, soft claws Ottawa, a wide variety of birds and reptiles.
• The forest consists of flora like Sal, Bija, Asan, Harida, Amala, Bahada and Bamboo and varieties of medicinal plants.
• There are several small and big waterfalls inside the sanctuary like Phurlijharan, Ghusrigudi, Dumnijhola, Kamalajharan, Koyirupa, Kuang and Raja Rani.