Four wild elephants he died on Wednesday after falling ill at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, Indian Express reported. This brought eight soldiers to die in the reserve in the past two days.

On Tuesday, four elephants were found dead in the protected forest reserve in the central Salakhaniya Beat areas of Khitauli and Pataur, the newspaper quoted unidentified officials of the state wildlife department as saying. Five more elephants were found lying on the ground in critical condition.

Four of the sick died while being treated on Wednesday. The affected herd had 13 members. While four were healthy, one remained under treatment.

The state’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve is home to a population of elephants that migrated from Chhattisgarh in 2018, according to the newspaper. Elephants can be seen in the central and buffer zones of the reserve.

Wednesday, unidentified wildlife department officials said Indian Express that an investigation has been launched to determine whether the death of the elephants within 48 hours was accidental or intentional.

“There is an investigation to determine if this was a case of poisoning,” the newspaper quoted officials as saying. “There are some signs, but we can only tell for sure when the post-mortem report comes in.”

Officials added that an assessment is being carried out to determine if the deaths were accidental as some Kodo seeds were found at the scene. Millet seeds can become dangerous if it is contaminated with a fungus that produces a toxic substance called cyclopiazonic acid, NDTV reported.

“(We are) checking whether the elephants ingested them and died,” the officials said, according to the report Indian Express. “We are asking villagers to see if there was any conflict with elephants in the past that might have played a role.”

The investigation was carried out within a radius of 5 kilometers from the place where the bodies were found.

A team of three members from National Tiger Conservation Authority was also in Bandhavgarh to investigate the deaths, NDTV reported.

The authorities works under the Union Ministry of Environment. It is tasked with protecting endangered animals and implementing Project Tiger, a conservation effort that began in 1973.

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