Virus attack kills four elephants at Nandankanan Zoo
Bhubaneswar: Four elephants have died at the Nandanakanan Zoo here after being infected by a virus, prompting the Odisha government to seek assistance from experts of Assam and Kerala.
All the four calves died of Endotheliotrophic Herpes Virus within a span of one month.
"The state government has contacted experts in Assam and Kerala where similar virus has killed several elephants in the past," Forest and Environment Minister of Odisha, B Karukha, said on Saturday.
Since there is no such vaccine to check the spread of the virus, the state government has sought assistance of experts to contain further outbreak.
Out of the eight elephants in the zoo, the Endotheliotrophic Herpes Virus claimed lives of four jumbos so far, the minister said.
Efforts are on to save the remaining jumbos, Arukha said, adding, the latest elephant death was reported on Friday night when a female elephant calf, 'Gauri', succumbed to the EEHV (Elephant Endotheliotrophic Herpes Virus).
Gauri was brought to the Nandankanan Zoo from Athagarh Forest Range in 2012. Out of the remaining four elephants, three are adults. The EEHV mostly affects elephant calves below 15 years of age.
Since most of the elephants were brought from different forests of the state, blood samples will be collected to ensure that the EEHV has not spread to the wild also, the minister said.
All precautionary measures are being taken to save lives of the remaining elephants in the zoo, the Deputy Director of Nandankanan Zoo, Jayant Das, said.
It is not clear whether the virus has also affected the remaining elephants, he said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
