Trenches at Shivpuri to keep wild elephants away draw ire from activists

Trenches dug up by the forest department near Ganga in Shivpuri , Rishikesh, to prevent entry of wild elephants into agricultural fields and resorts have drawn flak from wildlife activists who said that this has restricted the animals' access to water by blocking their traditional routes.

Shivpuri, a popular rafting spot, 20 km from Rishikesh, which draws thousands of thrill-seekers each year has reported increasing cases of man-elephant conflict in the past few years.

Facebook post on Thursday that expressed outrage over trenches and contained images and videos of them being dug up had been shared over 2,000 times in less than 24 hours.The post by Bittu Sahgal, former member of the National Board for Wildlife , member of Steering Project Tiger and member of environment ministry's infrastructure expert committee, read :"What is wrong with us.

Have we in India lost our minds? The Uttarakhand Government is actually digging elephant trenches on the banks of the Ganga river to STOP elephants from accessing paths they have traditionally used.

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