PETA asks farmers to grow chilies to prevent elephants from entering fields

Chennai : People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has jumped to the aid of pachyderm Chinna Thambi asking the Tamil Nadu government to keep the elephant in its natural forest home. The animal rights body said the government should take only humane, scientific methods to protect crops and villages or to translocate him to another forested area, if necessary.Citing the example of how Africans save themselves from elephants, the animal rights body asked the government to ask the farmers to grow chillies along the perimeters of their agricultural fields. These would ensure elephants wont destroy crops, the Peta said.The Peta asked the government to issues guidelines regarding the adoption of effective, compassionate methods for dealing with human-elephant conflicts – including appropriate urban planning that protects or restores forestland – and advised that African farmers have successfully kept elephants away from crops by planting chilies (which can be harvested and sold) around farm perimeters.“Keeping elephants in captivity is inherently cruel, as they are forced to obey commands under threat of violence, fear, and pain,” says PETA India Emergency Response Assistant Neha Chaturvedi. “The natural habitat of Chinna Thambi and other elephants must be conserved and restored, and the state government should work with villages to protect crops by planting chilies and adopting other humane measures.”Last week the Madras High Court advised that Chinna Thambi not be subjected to any physical discomfort. It also expressed concern that earth movers are being used to lift tranquilized, captured elephants and that Chinna Thambi previously sustained injuries, including broken tusks, during his capture and failed translocation.

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Assam: SC orders demolition of NRL boundary wall for elephants

The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) and ordered demolition of the entire 2.2 km boundary wall blocking an elephant migration corridor in Deopahar Reserve Forest in Golaghat.

The apex court said that “Elephants have first right on forest”.

The wall became the eye of a storm in 2015 after a 7-year-old male elephant that had reportedly died of “severe haemorrhage” in May that year from violently thrusting against the wall.

The same year, environmentalists captured videos showing elephants trying to cross the high boundary wall.

The green crusaders then started demanding demolition of the wall built by the oil refinery. It was alleged that the wall and the refinery township were being built illegally in a “No Development Zone” declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) in 1996.

In August 2016, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered NRL to demolish the entire length of the wall within a month. But only a 289-metre stretch was demolished.

As per reports, the NRL challenged the NGT order, saying the entire wall need not be demolished as it is not a part of Deopahar Reserve Forest in Golaghat.

Gauhati High Court has stayed any further demolition of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) boundary wall as ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last month.

The NRL claimed it had paid Rs 25 lakh to the State Forest Department, which will be kept in a separate bank account for restoration of the area and for the improvement of the surroundings adjoining the NRL complex and to reduce man-animal conflict especially man-elephant conflict.

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Cruelty cause for violent reaction of temple elephants, say activists

COIMBATORE: Incidents of cruelty against elephants in temples are aplenty and animal rights activists allege ill-treatment and lack of proper food, rest and medication leading to abnormal behaviour and sometimes proving fatal.

Vanam Trust of India Founder S Chandra Sekar told The Covai Post ctivist and Founder of Vanam Trust of India said earlier elephants were used for construction purposes, wars and as part of temple rituals. But nowadays we have plenty of resources and there is no need of an elephant in a temple,” he said.

“Years of exploitation have made a collapse in the eco-system. Elephants are brutally handled and caretakers let them starve for more than a week. It takes at least six months of consistent torture to domesticate it,” adds Chandra Sekar.

Domesticating elephants involves starvation, piercing of the ears with hot iron rods and pulling a rope through the holes to restrict its movement. The mahout will always thwack the elephant to do some gestures and the training turns out to be painful, he added.

“Elephants should be placed in the sand so that it can walk around 40 km a day. It should be fed over 240 kg of food and nearly 120 litres of water daily which is most often not be followed, especially in temples,” he says.

Activist Manoj says, “Only because of not having rest, proper intake of food and as a result of the heat, elephants stand on stones on the temple premises and can be case for tragic incidents like the recent one at Samayapuram temple in Trichy.”

“Elephants are captured from forests around the city and officials and caretakers cage them to the woods to ensure they get familiarised with the new environment. They are fed on ragi, kambu, thinai mixture, palm shoots and coconut barks which are not nutritious after all the torture that the animal has had to undergo,” said Chandra Sekar.

“The ill-treatment by the caretakers and the resultant depression caused to elephants can lead to many abnormal incidents in temples. It is this ill-treatment that leads to elephants turning violent and causing loss to life and property,” he added.


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Tusker menace: Forest dept in soup

IDUKKI: Though tusker menace has made headlines in the district, forest department is in a soup as residents are vehemently opposing the move to release captured elephants deep inside the forest.

On April 4, the department captured a rogue tusker Chullikomban from Aralam farm. The elephant had killed six people and destroyed crops in the area. The department then decided to release the tusker at Nelliyampathy .But, residents resisted the move. Then the department decided to transfer the elephant to Kodanad centre.Now the elephant is staying in a temporary shelter near Aralam.

"Recently, we planned to capture rogue tusker Arikomban from Munnar and release it in forest.People's representatives opposed us," said chief wildlife warden K J Varughese.

Forest officials pointed that keeping captured tuskers in cages was not practical.But people fear that when a tusker is released in the forest, it would return to the nearest human habitation."When an elephant is released in forest, it does not return for two days as it tries to create a habitat. There is no chance of it returning to our settlements," said Munnar DFO S Narendra Babu.

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K’taka team coming to capture elephant

A team of forest officials from Karnataka will be arriving here soon to capture the lone tusker roaming in the district. Forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that he has communicated with the Karnataka government and the team will arrive soon.

Five people from Ajara taluka were injured in tusker attack last week. The tusker has been roaming in the fields and damaging crops since last month.

A delegation of Shiv Sena led by district president Sanjay Pawar met Mungantiwar on Monday and urged for action against the tusker.

"The villagers are afraid to go to the fields. The tusker also appears during the day time and damages crop. The government should take immediate steps to address this issue as the lives of people are in danger," Pawar said.

Mungantiwar said, "The issue will be addressed within two days. A team of experts from Karnataka will capture the tusker. People need not worry. Forest officials are doing their best to address the issue."

According to forest department officials, they, along with the civic administration and farmers, are trying to restrict the elephant from entering the fields by using firecrackers, chilly smoke and fencing of farms. But these measures have failed so far.

"Two years ago the forest department had captured three elephants near Kankavali tehsil in Sindhudurg district by using skilled personnel. We have requested the department to catch the tusker in Kolhapur district as early as possible and relieve us from the fear that the tusker may appear in front of us any time," said a senior citizen from Ajara taluka.

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