By IANS
Lucknow : The crocodile toll in the Chambal river along the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border rose to 31 with one more reptile dying over the past 24 hours, but wildlife experts have failed to detect the cause behind the large-scale, sudden deaths of the crocodiles.
The toll over the past one-week included 22 deaths in Uttar Pradesh and seven in Madhya Pradesh.
Experts from the UP Pollution Prevention and Control Board, who visited the site, have so far failed to determine what exactly caused the deaths of so many endangered reptiles.
“The fact is that there are no industries anywhere close to the fatal site of the river, which rules out the possibility of any major pollutants there,” a Board official told IANS.
Not satisfied with the board’s finding, UP’s Chief Wildlife Conservator D.N.S. Suman said, “We have asked them to take water samples from the upstream region of the river also.”
He was of the view that “after all, there has to be some toxin present in the water which was obviously responsible for damaging the liver of crocodiles.”
According to him, “the post-mortem examination carried out on each of the crocodiles has confirmed liver cirrhosis as the cause of death.”
The report of experts from the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (ITRC) was still awaited.
The stretch of the Chambal river along the border of the two states is considered as an ideal habitat for the crocodiles.