Reacting to the death of six elephants in 11 days, the Chhattisgarh government has ordered the transfer of nine Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers on Friday.

Among those transferred include the principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife).

Apart from the nine IFS officers, eight more officers including the divisional forest officers (DFOs) of Balrampur and Dharamjaigarh, where the elephants died, were also transferred.

ALSO READ | Dehing Patkai And The Twisted Tales

A senior government official seeking anonymity said that some officers were shifted because of elephant deaths, while a couple was routine reshuffle.

As per reports, PCCF (wildlife) Atul Kumar Shukla has been transferred as PCCF state research, training and climate change.

Shukla is being replaced by PV Narsingh Rao, an IFS officer of the 1987 batch, as the PCCF (wildlife).

Before this Rao was the director of the Chhattisgarh State Forest Research and Training Institute in Raipur.

It may be mentioned here that six elephants have died in the last 11 days in Surajpur, Balrampur, Dhamtari and Raigarh districts of the state.

Reportedly two elephants were electrocuted in Dharamjaigarh under Raigarh.

A calf died after getting stuck in a marshland in Dhamtari district.

The death of the elephants under mysterious conditions have created an uproar in the country, which followed the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala.

In Kerala, a pregnant elephant was fed explosives-laden pineapple, which burst in her mouth and eventually killing her.

The incident was widely condemned in the country and animal rights activists called for stricter laws for stopping cruelties against animals.

Before the Kerala incident could douse, there were reports of elephant deaths in Chattisgarh and many questions were asked regarding the safety of the gentle giants.

ALSO READ | Dehing Patkai Is Wailing! India, Are You Listening?

ALSO READ | Bihar Set To Have India's First Dolphin Observatory