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Six dead as powerful cyclone heads for India
 by AFP Staff Writers
 Ahmedabad, India (AFP) May 16, 2021

Kazakhstan says 350 rare antelopes killed by lightning
Almaty, Kazakhstan (AFP) May 14, 2021 - Kazakhstan said Friday that around 350 critically endangered Saiga antelopes had been killed, probably by lightning, after villagers found their bodies in steppe land in the west of the country.

The discovery came during calving season for the Saiga, which is known for its distinctive bulbous nose.

The Kazakh ecological ministry said in a statement that lightning was the probable cause of their deaths "as there are traces of lightning strikes on the carcasses."

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose "Red List" is the scientific reference for threatened wildlife, lists the Saiga as among five critically endangered antelope species, with a population of around 124,000 adults.

Kazakhstan is home to the vast majority of the animals, with Russia's Kalmykia region and Mongolia hosting much smaller populations.

In 2015, around 200,000 of the antelopes -- well over half the total global population at the time -- were wiped out by what scientists later determined was a nasal bacterium that spread in unusually warm and humid conditions.

In an aerial survey in 2019, Kazakhstan said its Saiga population was estimated at more than 330,000 individuals.

Poaching is a persistent threat, fuelled by demand for horn in traditional Chinese medicine. Kazakhstan's leaders pledged to crack down on the crime after two state rangers were killed by poachers in 2019.

India probes death of 18 elephants 'hit by lightning'
Nagaon, India (AFP) May 14, 2021 - Indian authorities launched a probe Friday into the deaths of at least 18 elephants, as a leading conservationist raised doubts that the animals were killed by lightning.

The dead herd was found in the hilly Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest in the northeastern India state of Assam on Thursday.

Forest officials and a local lawmaker, Jitu Goswami, told AFP they believed the elephants died after lightning struck the forest.

But prominent conservationist Soumyadeep Datta, from environmental activist group Nature's Beckon, said that was unlikely based on social media images.

"Poisoning could be behind the death of the elephants," Datta told AFP. "We have to wait for the autopsy report, which the forest department will do soon."

A team of vets and officials headed to the site on Friday together with Parimal Shuklabaidya, Assam's forests and environment minister.

India is home to nearly 30,000 elephants, around 60 percent of the wild Asian elephant population.

In recent years there have been rising incidents of elephants killed by locals -- and vice-versa -- as humans encroach further into forest areas.

At least six people have died in torrential rain and winds as virus-hit India braces for a powerful cyclone, officials said Sunday, with more than 150,000 residents set to be evacuated from their homes.

Cyclone Tauktae -- India's first major tropical storm this season -- is moving northwards in parallel with the country's western coast, bringing heavy rains, thunderstorms and strong winds to several states, the meteorological department said.

It is expected to make land in coastal Gujarat early Tuesday, bringing wind speeds of around 155-165 kilometres per hour (96-102 miles per hour) gusting up to 185 kilometres per hour, the weather bureau added.

Thousands of disaster response personnel had been deployed to the states, while units from the coast guard, navy, army and air force had been placed on standby, Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement.

Four people lost their lives on Saturday as torrential rain and winds battered Karnataka state, the disaster management authority said Sunday.

Several towns and villages were flooded and properties damaged, officials added.

Two people died in the resort state of Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said Sunday, adding that power supply had been disrupted while some 200 houses were damaged, roads were blocked and trees uprooted.

Two others were reported dead and 23 fishermen were feared missing in Kerala, local media said.

More than 150,000 people are set to be evacuated from coastal districts in Gujarat, where the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination rollout will be suspended on Monday and Tuesday, the state government said.

The meterological department has warned of storm surges of up to three metres high (9.8 feet) in some coastal districts of Gujarat.

Hospitals with coronavirus patients in the affected districts were also backing up their power supply, local district development officer Varunkumar Baranwal told AFP.

Oxygen and power supply to hospitals in the state would be uninterrupted, Maharashtra said, while hundreds of virus patients will be moved from field hospitals.

India is already battling a deadly wave of infections that has pushed its healthcare system to breaking point, leading to severe shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines.

The vast nation of 1.3 billion people reported just over 311,170 new infections on Sunday, taking the total tally to nearly 24.7 million.

The death toll rose to more than 270,000 after 4,077 deaths were officially recorded over the past 24 hours. Experts say the actual toll could be significantly higher.

Last May, more than 110 people died after "super cyclone" Amphan ravaged eastern India and Bangladesh, flattening villages, destroying farms and leaving millions without electricity.

strs-ash-grk/ch


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