1934 report on deaths of 14 elephants in Tamil Nadu in 1933 puts focus on possible antidotes | India News – Times of India

BHOPAL: Could tamarind water and buttermilk have saved Bandhavgarh elephants? Yes, if a 90-year-old report on jumbo deaths in Tamil Nadu in circulation among the Madhya Pradesh forest officers is anything to go by.
The report by RC Morris, FZS (Fellow of the Zoological Society), has been found in the archives of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) in a journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and is proving to be a timely resource for the foresters under scanner after 10 elephant died in 72 hours in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.
The 90-year-old document from 1934 by Morris details the deaths of 14 elephants in Vannathiparai Reserve Forest in Tamil Nadu, in 1933, with a spotlight on Kodo millet poisoning. Morris’s intriguing notes on possible antidotes – tamarind water and buttermilk – are now gaining renewed attention, as officers seek to unravel the mystery behind the recent fatalities. The report highlights the role of antidotes like tamarind water and buttermilk in neutralizing the effects of Kodo millet poisoning, which is now being linked to the death of 10 elephants in Bandhavgarh.
Morris’s report dated May 22, 1934, indicates that ripe “Varagu”, a local name for Kodo millet, can occasionally become poisonous, despite its harmless appearance.