Jumbo carcass found in Deogarh, tusks missing

BHUBANESWAR: Two weeks after seven elephants were electrocuted at
Kamalanga in Odisha's Dhenkanal district, the carcass of a jumbo was
found in Khamar range of Deogarh forest division. Both its tusks were
missing.

Officials of the forest department said the carcass was at least two-day
old. It has been sent for postmortem. "The elephant will be no less than 20
years of age. There was neither any visible external injury mark on its
body nor any electrocution mark anywhere. But the tusks had been
removed," Kartik Chandra Samantray, divisional forest officer (Deogarh),
said.

The carcass was found around 7km from human habitation in an area that cannot be called a deep forest. The late recovery of
the carcass has raised questions about the efficacy of the forest department personnel patrolling the area. "Despite being fully
aware that it is a sensitive area, the forest officials were not vigilant. The incident has taken place in an accessible area further
exposing the apathy of the department," Biswajit Mohanty, secretary, Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO), alleged. He added that
the missing tusks clearly point to the involvement of professional poachers in the incident.

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Odisha fast turning into graveyard for elephants

The death of seven elephants on October 27 at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district of Odisha due to electrocution has allegedly exposed the state government’s apathy and inaction to ensure safe habitats for the big mammals.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha, the eastern Indian province whose rulers in the past were known as the Gajapati Maharajas or rulers of the elephants, is no longer a safe place for the jumbo animals. It was the state which boasted of having the countrys highest number of pachyderms.

Manmade disasters coupled with the state governments inaction have rendered the state a deadly graveyard for the elephants.

Since May 2017, 121 wild elephants have died. Of them, 25 were electrocuted either by sagging power lines or hooking of live wires by poachers.

The death of seven elephants at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district on October 27 has exposed the state governments “apathy” and “inaction” to ensure safe habitats for the big mammals. This mass electrocution, said to the biggest-ever electrocution tragedy in India, has shaken the wildlife lovers and conservationists across the world.

In fact, the National Green Tribunal has taken the Kamalanga incident seriously and slapped a suo motu case against the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) of Odisha. Besides, it has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on the power distribution company for its alleged negligence that led to the death of seven elephants.

Wildlife activists have blamed the present forest and environment minister Bijayashree Routray for the tragedy and registered their protest at the office of the chief minister.

“Our state Odisha, known for its magnificent elephants, has turned into a graveyard for elephants. We wish to record our disappointment over the worrying performance of the current minister. Since May 2017 when he (minister Bijayshree Routray) took over charge, we are dismayed to note that 121 wild elephants have died. In a similar incident on the June 9, 2017, bodies of three electrocuted elephants were recovered in decomposed conditions near Borapada in Dhenkanal district,” Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of Wildlife Society of Odisha, wrote to chief minister Naveen Patnaik. 

There are hundreds of sagging electric line points where a similar tragedy is imminent.

In a ghastly incident on April 16 this year, four elephants were mowed down by a train near Telidihi in Jharsuguda district due to poor coordination. No enquiry was conducted to ascertain the role of the local divisional forest officer (DFO), but lower level forest staff members were suspended.

Earlier on July 29, 2917, a train had killed an elephant in Sundargarh district followed by one more case of an elephant hit by a train in Dhenkanal on April 21 this year.

“Had the minister taken up this matter seriously, these elephants would be alive today,” said Mr Mohanty. 

Wildlife protection activists find lack of coordination between the forest officials and the railways to check accidental deaths of the elephants. 

Another shocking fact is that the poaching of adult male elephants for ivory continues unabated in Odisha with nothing being done to check the poachers.

In the last 18 months, hunters have allegedly poached nine adult males.

In February 2018, in quick succession, two adult male elephants were found with their tusks hacked off by poachers in the Badamba range of Athagarh division. On October 17, another adult male died in the adjoining Narsinghpur East range.

In December 2017, two professional elephant poachers from Arunachal Pradesh were apprehended in Keonjhar, but there has been no headway in the investigation to uncover the network. Odisha has lost 28 adult male elephants during the tenure of this minister which is a huge loss considering the fact that these were breeding males.

Open wells continue to be a threat to elephants and other wildlife. Since May 2017, 44 wild animals have fallen into open wells. There were 15 elephants among them, of which four died.

Human-elephant conflict has also gone up sharply in the last 18 months. As many as 141 men and women were killed and 102 injured in this turmoil.

During 2017-18, Odisha recorded the unfortunate death of 84 humans, the highest till date. For the last seven months, 57 persons have died and 53 have been injured.

The disbursement of compassionate payments for crop damage has continued to be woeful despite the Odisha Right to Services Act of 2012.

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Assam Rifles nabs elephant poacher with arms in Nagaland

The Wokha battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR(North) conducted a search operation at Meshangpen, Sanis Wokha district and during the search Assam Rifles troops apprehended one elephant poacher along with illegal arms and ammunition.

The nabbed poacher was identified as Nchumbemo Jami and security personnel recovered one 303 Rifle with magazine, five live cartridge of 303 and one mobile phone from him.

The poacher was handed over to Sanis Police Station.

An FIR has also been lodged in Sanis Police Station.


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Assam Rifles nabbed elephant poacher with arms in Nagaland

Guwahati : The troops of Assam Rifles had apprehended one elephant poacher along with illegal arms in Nagaland.


The Wokha battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR(North) conducted a search operation at Meshangpen, Sanis Wokha district and during the search Assam Rifles troops apprehended one elephant poacher along with illegal arms and ammunition.


The nabbed poacher was identified as Nchumbemo Jami and security personnel had recovered one 303 Rifle with magazine, five live cartridge of 303 and one mobile phone.


The poacher along with recovered items was handed over to Sanis Police Station and an FIR lodged in Sanis Police Station.




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Vigil on Gorumara 'poachers'

Jalpaiguri: Movement of "outsiders" in the core areas of Gorumara National Park at night has prompted the forest department to step up vigil against possible poachers.

Sources said foresters and forest dwellers had seen a group of seven-eight persons roaming around in the dense areas of Gorumara that is home to rhinos, leopards, elephants, deer and several other animals at night in the past few days.

"We suspect the group has wrong intentions. Otherwise, why would anybody enter the forest at night?" asked a forester.

In April last year, it was revealed that an organised gang of poachers, including professional shooters from the Northeast, had killed two rhinos and taken away the horns.

"After a year, such activities have left us alert as hunters operated in a similar manner earlier. They had entered the forest at night and killed the animals," said the forester.

The sources said security had been beefed up at the park after last year's poaching.

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Man held with tusks

A 28-year-old man was arrested today after he was found in possession of two tusks, which he had allegedly removed from a dead elephant a week ago near Gudalur, some 80 km from here, officials said.

Forest department officials noticed that the tusks of the 10-year-old elephant, which was found dead in Devala, were missing and launched a search to nab the poachers.

On information that one Manikandan was reportedly trying to sell the tusks, officials nabbed him this morning, officials said.

The officials recovered the tusks, which was buried in a farm and produced Manikandan before a local court, which remanded him to custody.

A search is on for the owner of the farm, they said.

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12 jumbos from K’taka to patrol UP’s tiger reserves

Pilibhit: The Uttar Pradesh government is set to procure 12 elephants from Karnataka which will be deployed in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), Dudhva Tiger Reserve (DTR) and the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS) to keep a tight vigil on the movement of poachers.

Confirming the development, SK Upadhyay, UP principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), said: “The central government has approved the plan and a high-level team of senior forest officials, wildlife experts and veterinarians will now be visiting Karnataka soon to give the final shape to the plan.”

“Of the 12 elephants, four will be given to PTR and the remaining eight will go to DTR. We have made the preliminary identification of elephants matching to our needs. The elephants will now go through a medical test,” said Upadhyay.

“After they are brought from Karnataka, the elephants will be kept separately for at least four-six months to make them adapt local environmental and geographical conditions. The elephants will also be tested for effects of local conditions on them during their period. The quarantine will be developed in surroundings of DTR in Kheri district.”

The prime function of these elephants would be field patrolling; besides, they would also play a crucial role in combing agricultural fields for tigers, he said.

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