At least 85 ghariyals were found dead within a month in the Chambal river, flowing through Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Although post-mortem reports indicate liver failure as the cause of the death, authorities are hardpressed to explain the cause of so many deaths.

However, unfazed by the casualties, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, Uttar Pradesh, D N S Suman, has decided to release 40 ghariyals into the river. While this was to initially take place on January 24, it has now been decided that the ghariyals will be released later due to the prevailing cold conditions. The temperature at the National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS) is currently hovering around two degrees Celsius mark.

A crisis management group formed by the Central Government to look into the sudden deaths is likely to visit the sanctuary on January 28. Among other things, it will monitor the movement and activities of the ghariyals to be released. The management group will be accompanied by officials of the World Wildlife Fund For Nature (WWF).

The latest possible clue to what is killing the rare reptiles is an unknown parasite that scientists found in the dead ghariyals’ liver and kidneys, according to Dr A K Sharma of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute.

“We can say that the liver and kidneys of these gharyials were badly damaged,” said Sharma. “They were swollen and bigger than their usual size.”

Others believe the ghariyals may have gotten sick and died after eating contaminated fish from the polluted Yamuna river, which joins the Chambal in Uttar Pradesh. Pathological tests confirmed lead and cadmium in the bodies of the animals, said Suman. “The Chambal river has clear water, free from heavy metals. The only possibility seems to be that these ghariyals might have migrated from the Yamuna.”

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