DEATH ON THE TRACKS

The Telegraph

May 14, 2008

In the forests of North Bengal, the accidents that kill elephants involve more than just the animals and the trains, writes Anusua Mukherjee

Sometime in the middle of last month, a mail from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals landed in my inbox. It pointed out, interestingly, that while the mascot of the Indian railways is an elephant named Bholu, his brothers in the wild are killed regularly in train accidents. PeTA has thus filed a complaint with the ministry of railways demanding that immediate steps be taken to protect elephants from death on the tracks. Although the petition was ridiculous in its patness, it nevertheless set me thinking. I decided to travel to the forests of North Bengal that had witnessed a number of accidents in which elephants have been killed by speeding trains. As I soon found out, the problem involved not just elephants and trains, but was the more complex one of the conflict arising between human beings and animals when each threatens the territory of the other.

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