Supreme Court considering report on elephant corridors

The Supreme Court is considering a report led by its
to direct States through which elephant corridors run to submit voluntary relocation/ rehabilitation plans for people who live in these eco-sensitive zones.
A.D.N. Rao has submitted that in case this option is not feasible, the States should take steps
to “acquire and secure” these zones by using funds, including the Compensatory Aorestation Fund.
The States in question include Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Kerala,
Arunachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu which has already notied the corridor for elephants in
the Nilgiris in August 2010. These are States which have signicant elephant population
amicus curiae Amicus curiae
and need unhindered passage for their movement. In Tamil Nadu, a report submitted by the
Nilgiris Collector in the apex court in August 2018 revealed that 821 buildings, constructions,
occupancies had encroached on the notied corridor.
Linking habitats
Many included the houses of auent persons. They have been demolished. All except one
building out of 39 resorts within the corridor were found to be illegal and closed down. The
amicus was responding to petitions led by advocate Elephant G. Rajendran and activists urging the court to intervene and direct the States to acquire the critical elephant corridors to ensure safe passage for the pachyderms.
A report by the Ministry of Environment and Forests titled ‘Gajah – Securing the Future for
Elephants in India’ in 2010 said long-term conservation of elephants could be done only by
linking their fragmented habitats.
The has asked the court to order the States concerned to submit proposals to the MoEF so that
critical corridors could be notied as eco-sensitive zones. Mr. Rao recommended the court to
direct the States to include the management of the corridors in the Working Plan of the Territorial Forest Divisions or in the Management Plans of the Protected Areas and Tiger Reserves.

Finally, the asked the court to direct the States and the Centre to ensure that activities in the
corridors be rst referred to the Forest Advisory Committee and Standing Committee of the
National Board for Wildlife for approval.
amicus amicus

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India’s First Elephant Hospital Is Treating Abused Elephants And Making A Difference Every Day

India is quite popular because of its oneness with nature and love for wildlife. According to Hindu philosophy (which is the major religion in India), animals are to be treated with kindness and many of them are represented in the form of deities too. So, when the country opened the first-ever elephant hospital back in 2018, it sent surges of joy throughout the world. And the good news is that a few months post its opening, this facility has successfully treated about 26 elephants.

The hospital is situated in Uttar Pradesh and was established by an animal welfare group called Wildlife SOS. It is a non-profit organization which is involved in the task of saving wild animals in India. It has been active since the year 1995. This group not only helps pachyderms but they have also helped turtles, bears, leopards, and different kinds of endangered species as well.

The problem with elephants in India comes due to their popularity among tourists. Due to the Western representation of India as a kind of magical and exotic land, elephants have gained a special value. Due to this stereotyping, many people still believe that Indians ride elephants and so, they also want to share the experience when they come to India. This results in the abuse of the mammal who is used in riding camps, temples, circuses, and for a variety of reasons by the tourism industry. Elephant abuse is rampant in India and neglecting them results in the rising complications of diseases among the elephant population. So, the hospital has come as a ray of light for them.

When a rescued elephant is brought into the medical center, they undergo a complete evaluation by a veterinarian. As most of these elephants are suffering from malnutrition and neglect, they have developed debilitating physical issues. The medical center is thus focused on treating old and injured elephants. It has all the modern equipment needed for a proper analysis of their physical conditions. They have ultrasound, digital radiology, pathology lab, laser therapy, hydrotherapy pool, and a special medical hoist to properly lift these large animals and put them in the treatment area. When a general check-up is required, they have jumbo-sized digital weight scales, and other necessary laboratory capabilities.

The Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital houses a portable X-Ray machine and they also have special foot-care tools. As there are many diseased elephants that need overnight observation, the medical center is fitted with infrared cameras so that veterinarians can monitor their patient the entire night.

Holly is one such patient of the hospital. She was a street-riding elephant and she was kept poorly by her owner. She is blind. When she first arrived in the hospital, her body was almost completely covered with untreated abscesses. Malnutrition has resulted in arthritis in her hind legs. She needed medical support and that too fast, but her owner did not think it was required.

In the hospital, Holly is being treated well. A team of veterinarians is trying to treat her painful arthritis by using therapeutic ultrasonography and cold laser therapy. They are also treating the abscesses daily and trying to keep her healthy by giving her the right amount of nutritious food.

After their treatment, these large mammals are taken to Wildlife SOS’s two elephant sanctuaries present in India: The Elephant Rescue Centre in Yamunanagar and The Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura. Thus, these elephants can spend the rest of their lives in peace and under proper protection.

Abused animals need our help and Wildlife SOS is doing their best to prevent it. We need to do our part as well and call out any kind of animal abuse that takes place. Animals are our friends – our neighbors. We should treat them with the same love and respect.

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Maneka Gandhi tells Army to act against elephant deaths in Assam, remove ‘dreadful spikes’

New Delhi: Days after a bed of six-inch long metal spikes installed by the Indian Army in Assam allegedly claimed the life of a male elephant, union minister Maneka Gandhi took up the issue with Army Chief Bipin Rawat and asked him to immediately remove the deadly spikes.

The spikes, laid down by the Army to prevent elephants around the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary in Guwahati from entering the military installation adjacent to it, have allegedly caused at least two elephant deaths, and left several injured.

Taking strong exception to the Army’s installation of what she called “the dreadful spikes”, Maneka said, “Whoever in the Army has done this needs to be pulled up…The Army has no business of putting these lethal spikes in the middle of a forest.

“I have spoken to the commander-in-chief, and he told me he has no knowledge of this, and will take immediate action,” she told ThePrint Friday.

“We have less than 15,000 elephants left in this country, are we going to kill them all?” she said.

According to the 2017 census of elephants, there are 27,312 elephants in the country, which account for 55 per cent of the total elephant population in the world.

Also read: To protect India’s elephants, we have to preserve wildlife corridors not just forests

Gandhi not the only one to outrage

A month before the male elephant was found dead on 4 March — it reportedly succumbed to septicaemia caused by a wound in the leg — the forest department had warned the Army against the “cruel” measure, asking it to remove the spikes, which would endanger the lives of the “innocent animals”.

In a letter written on 28 December — a day after another elephant was injured — District Forest Officer (DFO), Pradipta Baruah said, “This type of cruel effort to keep the elephants at bay is definitely going to defeat the very spirit of wildlife protection and preservation.

“You are, therefore, requested to do away with this type of detrimental measures… and evolve to take recourse to a more compassionate method in tandem with the wildlife division in the true spirits of protecting the wildlife.”

According to the post-mortem report of the elephant, it had punctured wounds on its right hind leg and foreleg which officials in the forest department believe were caused due to the spikes.

“Several elephants have been injured in this area due to these spikes, and we have constantly maintained that the Army should remove them, but nothing has been done till now,” an official in the Guwahati wildlife division told ThePrint.

“The way to deal with man-animal conflict is not to put the lives of animals in jeopardy,” the official said.

Long-drawn problem in Assam

While man-animal conflict is a raging issue across several parts of the country, it is particularly stark in Assam, where 249 elephants and 761 people have died since 2010 owing to the problem.

Poaching, train-related accidents, poisoning and electrocution have all contributed to the dwindling elephant population in the region.

Additionally, the shrinking natural habitat of elephants compels them to stray into human habitation, thereby increasing the incidents of conflict.

According to environment ministry data, in the last five years, nearly 500 elephants have died in the country due to unnatural factors.

Out of the 490 deaths recorded since 2013, more than half the deaths — 267 — have occurred due to electrocution, followed by poaching (92), rail accidents (72), revenge killings (36) and poisoning (23).

Also read: WCD not a soft ministry, it looks after 70% of India’s population: Maneka Gandhi

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Death Of Two Elephants Forces Removal Of Elephant Deterrent Spikes

India has long failed to control problems caused by their nations elephant population and their latest Elephant Deterrent Spikes was no different.

The Indian Army has begun removing rows of Elephant Deterrent Spikes that were put in place to keep the big tuskers from wandering off sanctuary grounds.

sharp iron spikes cemented on the ground to keep elephants off its Narengi Cantonment in Guwahati bordering the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Army had planted the pointed barrier especially to deter herds that would raid the supply depot and soldiers’ kitchens. Assam’s wildlife officials said the Army ignored several formal requests to remove the spikes.

A senior Army officer, declining to be quoted, said they had taken note of reports of elephant deaths to start working on removing the spikes.

Pradipta Baruah, the Divisional Forest Officer of Guwahati Wildlife Division, said bloodstains pointed to elephants getting injured after stepping on the spikes.

‘Cruel strategy’

“At least two elephants in the sanctuary died of septicemia since December last year while others have been injured. Their legs bore signs of the outcome of the insensitive and cruel strategy to keep elephants at bay,” he told The Hindu.

Mr Baruah had written the last letter seeking removal of the spikes to a Colonel in charge of the administration of the Cantonment after the first elephant died on December 25.

Wildlife veterinarians said that the second elephant that died in February had been carrying the spike-induced infection in a leg for a long time.

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Ministry publishes manual to mitigate attacks by elephants

Pune-based NGO behind guidelines to protect crops

Taking cue from a city-based NGO on their efforts to prevent damage caused to crops by elephants and mitigating man-animal conflict, the central government has published a reference manual. The manual would act as a guideline to all the 17 states in India to mitigate man-animal conflict with respect to elephants. The book, There’s Many a Way to Keep the Elephant Away, focusses on the review of crop protection and elephant management techniques under the community-based conflict management (CBCM) methods.

Rajiv Srivastava, former director of the elephant project and member of central project elephant monitoring committee of the government of India, said the manual would prove useful in mitigating the man-animal conflict. “Among all the conflicts reported with wildlife, issues with the elephant are most worrying. About 500 people die every year in India and at least 100 elephants either die or get severely injured,” Srivastava said. He added that crop raiding is a major issue and guidelines are needed to ensure that conflicts are kept to a minimum.

“Every state that has elephant population is facing the problem for which a participatory approach is required,” he said. “There have been guidelines and documents issued on preventive measures, but this is the first time that a manual has been released on a big scale,” Srivastava said.

Speaking to Mirror, Noyal Thomas, inspector general of forest and director of Project Elephant, run by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change, said, “The manual has been circulated to all the states. The states will ensure that best suitable practices are implemented depending on the region.”

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Wild elephant tramples youth to death in Assam’s Udalguri

In yet another incident of man-elephant conflict, a youth was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Paneri tea estate of Assam’s Udalguri district.

The incident took place at about 10 pm on Saturday evening.

The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Jaichan Kujur.

It has been reported that Jaichan Kujur was confronted by the wild elephant while he was returning home on foot.

It is pertinent here to mention that the man-elephant conflict has taken an ugly turn along the Indo-Bhutan border villages in Udalguri district claiming as 7 human lives and 8 elephant in 2017-18.

As the man-elephant conflict continues in different parts of Assam, the state recorded the first casualty of wild elephant in 2019 on January 8.

According to information, a female wild jumbo was found dead at Panpur in Jamugurihat area under Sonitpur district on January 8.

Sources said, forest officials suspected that the female wild elephant died after consuming food laced with poison.

Reportedly, Assam is home to nearly 6,000 wild elephants.

As per the 2017 elephant census, India is home to 27,312 elephants accounting for 55 pc of total world elephant population.

Due to massive population growth and rapid industrialisation, the habitats of wild elephants have been destroyed resulting in incidents of human-elephant conflict.

It has been reported that in Assam, around 68 wild elephants were killed in 2018 due to human-elephant conflict.

While some of the wild elephants were killed after being hit by running trains, some other wild jumbos died due to electrocution and a number of jumbos died due to poisoning.

In Assam, between 2013 to 2017, elephants have been victims of poaching, train related accidents and deaths, poisoning, and electrocution.

In between 2006 and 2016, wild elephants have killed more than 700 people in Assam.

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Control elephant population: former WII Dean

A.J.T. Johnsingh, former dean of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), said here on Friday that there was a need to control the elephant population in the country. Contraception could be a solution, as done in Africa, he said.

“In my opinion, the elephant population in the country needs to be controlled. Elephants can be neutered for birth control as done in some countries in Africa. They don't need to be culled,” he said in reply to a question on the ever increasing human-elephant conflicts.

“Around 500 people are killed in attacks by wild elephants every year in the country. No country will allow elephants killing its people,” he said.

According to Mr. Johnsingh, the main reason for elephants straying out of forests in search of fodder was the degradation of the habitat. “The size of forests have not shrunk significantly. But the quality of the habitat has reduced. Invasive species have spread fast in the forests. These are inedible plants, and the lack of fodder could force elephants to come out of forests,” he said.

Mr. Johnsingh said more focus was required on protecting three major elephant corridors in the south -- Aryankavu, Kallar and Mukurthi -- for smooth movement of elephants, and thus reduce conflicts.

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Elephant 'Lakshmi' steals the show at rejuvenation camp with her mouth organ playing skills

'Lakshmi', a female elephant has become famous among locals at a rejuvenation camp in Thekkampatti. She has almost aced the art of playing mouth organ. All credits go to her mahout Balan. He kept on trying to train Lakshmi and finally succeeded. India has over 50 percent of Asiatic elephant population, which are considered intelligent.

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Elephant 'Lakshmi' steals the show at rejuvenation camp with her mouth organ playing skills

'Lakshmi', a female elephant has become famous among locals at a rejuvenation camp in Thekkampatti. She has almost aced the art of playing mouth organ. All credits go to her mahout Balan. He kept on trying to train Lakshmi and finally succeeded. India has over 50 percent of Asiatic elephant population, which are considered intelligent.

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Assam records first casualty of wild elephant in 2019

As the man-elephant conflict continues in different parts of Assam, the State recorded the first casualty of wild elephant in 2019 on Tuesday.

According to information, a female wild elephant was found dead at Panpur in Jamugurihat area under Sonitpur district of Assam.

As per sources, forest officials have suspected that the female wild elephant died after consuming food laced with poison.

According to reports, Assam is home to nearly 6,000 wild elephants. As per the elephant census in 2017, India is home to 27,312 elephants accounting for 55 per cent of total world elephant population.

But due to massive population growth and rapid industrialisation, the habitats of wild elephants have been destroyed resulting in incidents of human-elephant conflict.

It has been reported that in Assam, around 68 wild elephants were killed in 2018 due to human-elephant conflict.

While some of the wild elephants were killed after being hit by running trains, some others died due to electrocution and a number of jumbos died due to poisoning.

n Assam, between 2013 to 2017, elephants have been a victim of poaching, train related accidents and deaths, poisoning, and electrocution.

Between 2006 and 2016, wild elephants have even killed more than 700 people in Assam.

The conflict between humans and the elephants has only leveled up.

According to media reports, in Assam, 100 elephants died unnatural deaths during the period from 2013 to 2016.

In April 2018, two wildlife photographers from Guwahati filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Gauhati High Court asking it to direct the Assam Forest Department, the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment and the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) to check the death of elephants after being hit by trains.

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India opens a hospital for elephants

More than half of Asia's elephants are found in India, but the country's elephant population has dipped in the past few years - by nearly 10 percent across 23 states between 2012 and 2017.

Last month, the South Asian country opened a hospital dedicated to the conservation of elephants. The facility is jointly run by the conservation group Wildlife SOS and Uttar Pradesh's forest department and is already treating nearly two dozen injured, sick and geriatric pachyderms, which were rescued and had been kept at a conservation and care center.

Spanning 12,000 square feet (1,100 square meters), the hospital is equipped with wireless digital X-Ray, laser treatment, thermal imaging, ultrasonography, hydrotherapy and tranquillization equipment.

Read more: The sorry lives of India's captive elephants

Elephants have a strong cultural symbolism in India and human-elephant interaction has a rich history in the region. At the same time, elephants face substantial abuse in India.

Asian elephants are also endangered and enjoy the highest degree of protection for animals under India's powerful Wildlife Protection Act.

"Unlike their African counterparts, Asian elephants are relatively understudied," Arinita Sandilya, a senior executive at the Wildlife SOS, told DW.

"Coupling this with the fact that their population is dwindling in the wild due to reasons such as escalated human-elephant conflict, railway collision, habitat destruction and captivity, the need to understand this majestic species is even more pronounced," she added. Asian elephants are smaller in size with smaller ears compared with their African cousins.

The medical center hopes it can contribute towards behavioral studies, veterinary science and pathology of Asian elephants – eventually helping to frame better conservation policies.

Declining elephant population
"The hospital will be open for practitioners to come and learn about veterinary practices and humane management of elephants, and apply this knowledge towards better management of their elephants," said Sandilya.

India bestowed the status of "national heritage animal" on elephants in 2010 to increase protective measures for the conservation of the species as their numbers have declined in recent years.

Read more: Noah's Park: Saving elephants from the flood

Since 1992, when India launched "Project Elephant," the government has undertaken census once in four or five years. Project Elephant has provided a focus for all the conservation efforts since then.

Besides cruel treatment at circuses and illegal captivity, elephants in the wild also face threats from poaching for their tusks and rapid loss of habitat. On average, 80 elephants die every year in India from human contact - whether it is by electrocution, poaching, poisoning and train accidents, according to environmental ministry figures.

Conservation of the species
India has 29 formally declared elephant reserve forests – covering an area of about 65,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles), along with 88 dedicated elephant "corridors" opening the known travel paths of the animals. Travelling hundreds of kilometers, nomadic elephants require large areas of suitable habitat.

"Elephant conservation in India is a big issue and right now we need a hospital like this that caters to elephants who are sick and in distress," said Soumitra Dasgupta, inspector general of forests (wildlife) with the federal government's environment ministry.

VK Venkitachalam, an elephant welfare activist who runs the Heritage Animal Task Force, told DW about a previous proposal to set up a full-fledged elephant hospital in India's southern state of Kerala that didn't succeed.

"It didn't succeed because of political infighting within the state," he said, adding that establishing such a hospital is certainly a significant step forward for elephant conservation.

Read more: How India's sacred cows are creating havoc on the streets

Venkitachalam added that Kerala has ample infrastructure facilities to set up something similar to the elephant hospital in Uttar Pradesh.

"Kerala's forest department has enough funds and space in veterinary universities to handle such projects," added Venkitachalam. As many as 31 captive elephants have died this year alone in the southern state.

"Much of the diagnostic equipment is now transportable and it will be beneficial for elephant camps," said Venkitachalam.

Sandilya from Wildlife SOS said the hospital in Mathura would help elephant conservation across India and beyond.

"The elephant hospital would be open to practitioners and students from the world over. We aim to develop more interest among conservationists about the plight of Asian elephants and push for concerted action."

"The hospital would remain open to treating elephants from Kerala as and when approached by the Kerala Forest Department," she added.

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India has lost nearly 500 elephants to unnatural factors since 2013

New Delhi: The death of a wild elephant while trying to escape angry villagers in Karnataka’s Nagarhole National Park last week triggered widespread outrage on social media.

The 42-year-old animal’s death is the latest reminder of the pachyderm problem in India. According to Environment Ministry data accessed by ThePrint, in the last five years, nearly 500 elephants have died in the country due to unnatural factors.

Out of the 490 deaths recorded since 2013, more than half the deaths — 267 — have occurred due to electrocution, followed by poaching (92), rail accidents (72), revenge killings (36) and poisoning (23).

In 2017-18, as many as 97 elephants were killed due to these five factors — a result of the increasingly rampant man-animal conflict phenomenon — making elephants the most persecuted wildlife species in the country.

According to a report published by the ministry last year, the elephant population in India is 27,312, down by 3,000 since 2012.

Reports said that the wild elephant which died in Nagarhole was stranded on a railway fence erected by the forest department, ironically to mitigate the man-elephant conflict.

Sharing the image of the elephant in Nagarhole, IFS officer Parveen Kaswan said, “Died while crossing railway fences near Nagarhole. This happens when we block path which are used by these animals from generations. When we want infrastructure in middle of their homes. With no fault of their own.”

Government action
In order to address the crisis, the government started ‘Project Elephant’ in 1992 to protect the Asian elephant, its habitat and corridors and address the man-elephant conflict.

However, with rapid urbanisation, encroachment of forest land, fragmentation of elephant corridors and illegal fencing on the rise, conflict with elephants is only expected to increase.

According to a report published by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in 2017, national and state highways cut across over two-thirds of the 101 elephant corridors in India, which remain vital for their survival.

Although the government has an elaborate set of guidelines on the basis of which forest land can be diverted for non-forest purposes, diversion continues to take place for practices such as mining, road and highway construction and other developmental work — leading to more human and wildlife deaths.

The conflict is a two-way one. In the last four years, one human life was lost every day due to the man-elephant conflict, and a total of 1,465 people have been killed in the last four years, from 2013-14 to 2016-17.

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'Severely endangered' elephant suffocates to death on farmer's fence after it was chased by an angry mob

An endangered elephant tragically suffocated to death after it tried to climb a farm fence in order to find food to eat. The elephant was found dead at the Nagarhole National Park, one of the country's premier animal reserves located in the Kodagu and Mysore district in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

According to the Daily Mail, the five-ton pachyderm is said to have successfully managed to scale the fence, get to the farmer's field, and have its share of food before becoming stuck on its way out. Reportedly 42-years-old at the time of its death, the elephant was discovered to be from a breed that is classed as "severely endangered" by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The elephant was seemingly chased by a mob of angry locals after it had eaten the crops. The locals continued to chase the animal even after it moved from the farm, forcing it to try to jump or climb over the tall fence in desperation. The national park's director, KM Narayanaswamy, revealed the cause for the elephant's death stating that the animal's diaphragm had gotten compressed when it got stuck in the fence. This, in turn, resulted in its vital organs being denied oxygen, and it suffocated to death.

Heartbreaking footage captured at the scene shows several locals working together to wrench the elephant free from the fence after it died. As the video rolls, the animal can be seen becoming unstuck before falling backward and then lying motionless on the ground.

Local reports say 20 miles of fencing had been erected in 2015 by the Karnataka Forest Department to try and stop the elephants in the national park from damaging farms on the periphery of the national park. It is said to have cost the department a total of 212 crores ($3 million) to construct the fence, which is copied from the one set up at the Addo Elephant Park in South Africa.

However, the decision was almost immediately criticized by wildlife conservationists and environmentalists who warned it could result in one of the endangered animals dying. Elephant conservation expert Dr. Divya Vasudev told NDTV, "Large-scale fencing of forests which is a widely-used strategy just does not work in the long term perspective of either conflict mitigation or elephant ecology. It could perhaps help if only the fields were protected by fencing, while elephant paths remained unhindered."

But officials seem to have doubled down on their decision, with a retired forest official telling reporters that the fences had been successful in lowering the damage done to farmers' crops and that the government might consider increasing the heights of these fences further to prevent the animals from climbing them.

India currently boasts an elephant population of about 27,000, which constitutes 60% of the global Asian elephant population. However, numbers have declined by 10% since 2012, with it estimated that at least 100 of the pachyderms die in the country every year in human-related conflicts.

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Karnataka zoos to host project on animal population management

Zoos in Karnataka, particularly the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens in Mysuru and the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) in Bengaluru, will be among of the study areas of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehardun, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which is carrying out a project on population management of species involved in man-animal conflict in the country.

The pilot project is being carried out under the Centrally-sponsored scheme of Integrated Development Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH). The ₹10.65-crore project has been spread over three years.

According to the WII, the project aims to assess the current status of man-animal conflict with the aim of reducing its impact.

The project has been divided into two phases. Phase 1 will deal with developing the appropriate tools of population control and developing a protocol for field implementation. Phase 2 will deal with in-house production of drugs and large-scale implementation at the field level by the Forest Department.

Under this project, four herbivore species — rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and elephant (Elephant maximus) — have been identified as the focal species, according to information sourced from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, wildlife division.

The project aims to develop appropriate reproductive control techniques for managing the population of “problem species” below the tolerance level, and to understand the ecological aspects of conflict management.

The proposed study will information on the efficacy and feasibility of reproductive control by various procedures. It will also quantify damage by animals in select areas and assess the perception of locals towards resolving human-animal conflict, a note from the ministry, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, said.

The findings of the study will eventually help in implementing effective management practices that will reduce the intensity of the problem.

The study may serve as a “standard model” to be replicated across different geographic regions for mitigating man-animal conflict. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) C. Jayaram said the project has been taken up on a pilot basis and would be implemented in selected populations where the problem has been noticed if the initiative proves successful.

Birth control

“The project deals with contraception for temporary birth control in the species. The vaccine is injected into female species, which eventually stops conceiving for a temporary period. Such a programme was carried out at Kruger National Park in South Africa for controlling the population of elephants,” Mr. Jayaram said.

He said the population of bonnet macaque has increased both in rural and urban areas in the south, like that of the rhesus macaque in north India. “The female bonnet monkeys will be the focal study species in the State,” he said.

Zoo Authority of Karnataka member-secretary B.P. Ravi said the WII has sought permission for carrying out trial studies on nilgais and elephants in the zoos.

CM’s directive to officials

The Forest Department has been directed to prepare a plan to find a permanent solution to the man-animal conflict in the State, especially with Karnataka having the highest density of elephants in the country.

The direction came from Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy at a meeting of officials of Hassan, Chickmagaluru, and Kodagu to discuss man-elephant conflicts in these districts. He directed the officials to submit a plan considering the needs of the next four or five years, a release from the CMO said.

While a total of 71 km has been fenced using rail line fencing, there is a need to construct 400-500 km more of rail fence. The CM also asked officials to seek rail lines at a discounted rate from the Railways.

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520 Captive Elephants In Kerala, Reveals Census

Forests and Wildlife Department conducts State-wide census

The Forest and Wildlife Department on Thursday conducted a State-wide census to enumerate the State’s captive elephant population. Over 520 elephants were counted. The final figures were yet to be ascertained.

The survey was necessitated by an order issued by the Supreme Court that directed Chief Wildlife Wardens to identify elephants in captivity and to ascertain whether their owners possessed ownership certificates. The order permitted granting provisional ownership certificates in cases where the owner did not have the needed document.

Thrissur recorded the highest number of elephants (145) and Kannur the lowest (three). Forty-eight elephants were registered in Thiruvananthapuram. Kasaragod has no elephants.

The details

Details pertaining to captive elephants, their owners and mahouts were collected during the drive. Other details, including microchip certificate and DNA profiles, were also recorded. Measurements of elephants, including height; length of the body, trunk, tail and tusks; girth of tusks; and number of nails, were collected by the survey team.

While the State-level drive was coordinated by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Biodiversity Cell), the efforts in each district were supervised by the Assistant Conservator of Forests (Social Forestry). The number of squads was fixed in proportion to the estimated elephant population in the districts.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force P.K. Kesavan said the department was well within the schedule and will submit the report before the Supreme Court within December 31 as per the directive.

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A small-town businessman’s quest to protect India’s elephants, one photo at a time

On a winter morning last year, the photographer Biplab Hazra watched as, one by one, a herd of elephants tried to cross a railway track in the town of Bishnupur in West Bengal’s Bankura district. Among them was a calf perched at the edge of the high railway platform, built in the middle of an elephant corridor, struggling to get down.

Hazra’s poignant photograph of that moment won him a certificate of merit in this year’s Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Photography awards. And it comes just a year after his striking photograph of elephants in the same district fleeing from fireballs thrown by villagers went viral around the world. In 2017, Hazra, who owns a brick kiln business, was named the wildlife and conservation magazine Sanctuary Asia’s photographer of the year.

The 40-year-old first began spending time in the forests of the Bankura district in 2000, after which he bought a camera and started taking pictures as a hobby. But over time, he began using his camera to document the escalating human-elephant conflict in the area.

This region of West Bengal has for long been part of the migratory route for elephants, but as the Birsa Munda Halt railway platform shows, human interventions are increasingly challenging the survival of the species.

“…if this platform was built 100 metres in other direction, then the elephant corridor would’ve been saved,” Hazra told Quartz. “…it’s a platform in the middle of the forest, and one train passes through it without stopping… at the ticket counter, the fans, electricity wire, switches, everything has been nicked. Even the gate is missing. Only the platform remains.”

Elephants have a habit of moving from forest to forest, but rapid development has forced the species to adapt, according to Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Odisha, a state that neighbours West Bengal.

“Earlier they used to migrate to West Bengal and then return (to Jharkhand). But over a period of time, maybe over the last 10 years, the return is not happening for various reasons,” Mohanty told Quartz. Chief among them are the construction of a canal system, mining and other industrial activities, besides expanded human settlements and cultivation. As a result, Mohanty says, the feeding habits of elephants have also evolved, and they now like to eat the cash crops of sugarcane and potatoes grown year-round by the farmers in the region.

And this is what sparks the human-elephant conflict.

“The villagers are desperate to get rid of elephants because first of all the per acre compensation for damage (in West Bengal) is much lower than in other states,” Mohanty explained. “They try to throw those fireballs; they have steel rods dipped in kerosene and they have got a pointed tip and sometimes they poke the elephants when they come close.” Over the last five to six years, he added, elephants have also been increasingly driven into Odisha, which never used to happen before.

For Hazra, photography has become an essential tool to raise awareness of the issue, and Mohanty acknowledges that his images have started to make a difference. Last year, India’s supreme court deemed the practice of using spikes and fireballs to chase away elephants “barbaric” and ordered forest departments to stop immediately.

“Previously, everyone would be armed with these. Nowadays, maybe one in 100 people uses these fireballs,” Hazra said.

But the most important step for elephant conservation is to protect their traditional habitat.

“The way forward is to restore their migratory route so that they don’t have to forcibly stay in an area where they don’t normally stay,” Mohanty said. “Corridors have to be pushed back to what they were. (But) right now, there’s very little happening on that front.”

So Hazra continues to take his photos.

“These animals have to be saved. That’s why I take photographs….I want to be able to capture their suffering, and hopefully things can be improved legally,” he said.

Here are some of Hazra’s photographs that document the challenges of West Bengal’s elephant population:

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First elephant hospital home draws tourists

MATHURA, UTTAR PRADESH, NOVEMBER 19

Reuters At the country’s first hospital for elephants in Uttar Pradesh, 49-year old Asha placed her left foreleg on a stool for a doctor to attend to an injury while visitors filmed it all on their mobile phones.

The facility has wireless digital X-Ray, thermal imaging, ultrasonography, tranquilisation devices and quarantine facilities. It has not only come as a respite to the elephants but is also attracting local and foreign tourists.

The hospital is spread over 12,000 sq ft and is designed to treat injured, sick or geriatric elephants.

“I think by building a hospital we are underlining the fact that elephants need welfare measures as much as any other animal,” said Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of Wildlife SOS, the non-profit behind the hospital.

“That captive elephants are not meant to be used and abused but instead have to be given the respect which an animal needs if you are going to be using the animal.”

A better home

The country’s elephant population fell 27,312 in 2017 from 29,391-30,711 in 2012, government data shows.

The hospital, on the banks of the Yamuna River, is close to an elephant conservation and care centre run by Wildlife SOS that is home to 22 elephants.

Elizabeth Ritson, a tourist from Australia, said she was glad there was now a dedicated hospital for elephants in India.

“Look at them, they are so much happier and when you see the abuse that they have been through, the shackles that were put on their feet and to see them all healed up, it’s just really nice,” she said.

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Jumbo population doubles in Andhra Pradesh

Direct sighting method used to arrive at the figure

The population of elephants has doubled in Andhra Pradesh in the past decade, despite the pachyderms taking the lives of 13 people in the forests of north Andhra Pradesh since early 2008.

Srikakulam District Forest Officer Ch. Shanti Swaroop told The Hindu that the casualties occurred in the districts of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.

Ironically, the incident of irate villagers killing one elephant and burying it in a field in Srikakulam district in 2010 forced the forest authorities to chalk out plans to address the intensified conflict between forest dwellers and elephants. The Synchronized Elephant Population Estimation, India, 2017, published by the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) throws light on the situation. “The total number of elephants reported was between 55 and 65 in Andhra Pradesh; 30 in Chittoor West, 24 in Tirupati forest division and 4 in Srikakulam division.”

Regular movements

According to the Elephant Division of the MoEFCC, a total of 28 elephants was reported in A.P in 2007, 41 in 2012 and 65 in 2017.

Given the regular movements of a few herds between Andhra forests and the ones in Odisha and Karnataka, the number of total elephants was estimated between 55 and 65 as per the ‘direct sighting’ method of the census. The census is normally carried out once in four years, the next census will come out in 2022.

“It is a celebrating development that the population of the elephants in A.P has doubled. Having the data on the gender of the elephants is one of the key factors to come up with scientific reports on the growth of the elephants’ population in future,” wildlife biologist Rakesh Kalwa told The Hindu.

Associated with the Hyderabad-based Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, Mr. Rakesh is engaged in documenting the gender of the elephants in the State. “Our findings on the gender during the 2017 census does not support for scientific conclusions on the gender. However, the next census will mostly have scientific data on the gender,” he said.

Mr. Rakesh says pachyderms roaming in northern Andhra are more ferocious than the others in the State.

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Supreme Court makes trunk call to count captive elephants

In a bid to protect captive elephants and ensure that they are not tortured and overworked, the Supreme Court on Thursday made it mandatory for all states to carry out a survey of captive pachyderms.

The SC wants the survey to be completed before December 31, 2018. It said that owners need to have a certificate to retain the elephants.

The court issued these instructions on a petition filed by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre seeking protection of elephants and implementation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act 1960. Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi claimed that the elephant population in India has dwindled to 26,000. Out of these, 3,500 are in captivity.

The states will have to submit a report to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change before the second week of January 2019 when the case is listed for next the hearing.

Elephant rides are a big hit among tourists, at Amber Fort in Rajasthan and Kerala. The government authorised jumbo rides are included on the roster for domestic and international visitors.

The Supreme Court has directed Chief Wild Life Warden of every state to "ascertain and identify" elephants in captivity.

The court has also directed the wardens to ensure the owners of captive elephants have ownership certificate. If they do not, then same may be granted provisionally.

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had claimed that none of the elephants ferrying tourists at Amber Fort, Rajasthan are registered with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).

In September, the Rajasthan High Court had issued notices to Rajasthan on how elephant rides were being allowed without registration. In another case, animal activist Gauri Maulekhi cited an AWBI report claiming that 10 of the 102 elephants lodged at Elephant Village, Amber, were suffering from tuberculosis. Nineteen elephants were also found to be blind.

Jumbo Facts

26,000 is the elephant population in India

3,500 elephants are in captivity

10 of the 102 elephants lodged at Elephant Village in Amber suffer from tuberculosis; 19 elephants are blind (AWBI report)

Elephant rides are major tourist attractions in Rajasthan and Kerala

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India’s growing population draws elephants and humans into conflict with deadly consequences on both sides The Indian government told parliament last year that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years

On the day Yogesh became another of the dozens of Indians trampled to death each year, the coffee plantation worker knew from the fire crackers set off nearby that danger was at hand.

“Everything happened so fast. The elephant suddenly emerged from behind the bushes, trampled him and disappeared,” his younger brother Girish said.

The 48-year-old from the southern state of Karnataka, home to India’s largest elephant population with more than 6,000 jumbos, 20 per cent of the country’s total, left behind a wife and two children.

As India’s population grows, people are encroaching into habitats where until now the elephant, not man, has been king, with painful effects for both parties.

The Indian government told parliament last year that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years.

The elephants too are paying a heavy price with around 700 fatalities in the last eight years across the country.

Most were killed by electric fences, poisoned or shot by locals angry at family members being killed or crops being destroyed, and accidents on railway cutting through ancient migratory routes. And Karnataka, which is also part of the wider southern region criss-crossed by over 10,000 of the mighty tusked beasts weighing up to five tonnes, is on the frontline.

“At present we have an annual death rate of around 30 to 40 people in the state,” said C Jayaram, Karnataka’s chief wildlife warden.

The Indian government, like many other stakeholders in the complex and tragic situation, appears undecided about what best to do.

“It is very difficult to escape our population or development pressure,” a senior government official said. “Unless it’s addressed, all of us just have to learn to live with the reality of such encounters.”


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