Bundelkhand:
Cattle in Bundelkhand are dying of thirst, but a region caught in it's worst ever drought is unable to navigate a way out.
The administration has no contingency plan for these silent victims.
All over Bundelkhand, we find animal and man locked in a desperate search for water.
",Two cows have already died. Now I am looking for a calf that has fallen somewhere,", said Ganga, a farmer.
Bundelkhand has begun to look bleak. With three and a half lakh cattle officially dead, it's an open graveyard.
Over fifty per cent of the people here have migrated for work, and the animals left have few caretakers.
At watering holes in the reserved area, accidents have been deadly. A bear came to drink at one of the watering holes, so did two other people at the same time. What followed was that the bear killed all three.
That is probably why national parks like Panna have been guarding water sources.
",Once the sources from where we are getting water dries, what are we going to do?", said Dr A K Besariya, conservator, Chhattarpur circle.
Dying of acute thirst and hunger, their deaths do not make any headline. In the struggle for survival, the animals in Bundelkhand seem to be fighting a lost battle.