Gaj Yatra honours Meghalaya’s elephant corridor effort

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Wildlife Trust of India has rolled out the ‘Gaj Yatra’ from Tura, the principle town of Garo Hills in Meghalaya. The event involves taking an elephant mascot across district frequented by jumbo herds for generating awareness among the people.

• The role of Nokmas, traditional custodians of the land, is important here in supporting the move towards co-existence between man and animal and helping conservationists for the success of the initiative.

==>About Gaj Yatra

• Gaj Yatra, a nationwide campaign to protect elephants, was launched on the occasion of World Elephant Day in 2017. The campaign is planned to cover 12 elephant range states. The elephant is part of India’s animal heritage and the Government celebrates this day to spread awareness about the conservation of the species.

• The 15 months campaign will be led by the Wildlife Trust of India. The campaign aims to create awareness about the elephant corridors to encourage free movement in their habitat.

==>World Elephant Day

• World Elephant Day is an annual event celebrated across the world on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of elephants. The goal of World Elephant Day is to create awareness about the plight of elephants and to share knowledge and positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephants.

• African elephants are listed as “vulnerable” and Asian elephants as “endangered” in the IUCN Red List of threatened species. As per the available population estimates, there are about 400,000 African elephants and 40,000 Asian elephants.

• World Elephant Day is celebrated to focus the attention of various stakeholders in supporting various conservation policies to help protect elephants, including improving enforcement policies to prevent illegal poaching and trade in ivory, conserving elephant habitats, providing better treatment for captive elephants and reintroducing captive elephants into sanctuaries.


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Elephant human encounters rise in Jharkhand, 62 killed this year

Anurudh Kumbhakar, 38, a farmer in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, was harvesting his paddy crop on Decembers 5 when an elephant grabbed him with its trunk, tossed and then trampled him. The poor villager, the sole breadwinner in a family of six, died a painful death.

The elephant herd, which had three baby elephants, is still staying back in the adjoining Chainpur Khas forest area located across Jharkhand-Odisha border.

Last month, elephants had killed five persons within a span of two days Jharkhand's Ranchi and Hazaribagh districts.

Though incidents of man-elephant conflict have always followed a predictable pattern in Jharkhand over the years, the current year has seen maximum confrontation between them.

In August this year, an elephant had to be shot dead after it killed as many as 12 persons in Sahibganj district.

Government ordering to kill an elephant was unprecedented even in Jharkhand where elephants have killed more than 600 persons in last one decade. The figure is scary. Simply put, the pachyderms have been killing a person in Jharkhand every sixth day.

The killer elephant, having separated from its herd and also lost path, had been roaming in the area.

Moreover, the attempt of the villagers as well as the forest officials to drive it away made it more infuriated. A gunner hired by the government shot the tusker dead on August 12.

The human and the elephants have overlapping territories in Jharkhand, leading to a bellicose relationship between the two.

Incidentally, with Maoists extremists largely on the run in Jharkhand, the marauding herds of wild elephants has emerged the biggest threat for civilians living in Jharkhand's rural zone.

The man-elephant conflict has intensified with shrinking forest. The large animals often venture inside human habitats in rural Jharkhand, which they ironically consider part of their territory.

Besides human settlements, the growing highways, train tracks, and mines continue to eat up forest areas, forcing the elephants to turn aggressive. Their search for food is bringing them closer to towns as well.

According to experts, constant human pressure at the forests has forced elephants to leave their homes in search of food, which in turn triggers conflict with locals.

The elephants usually require more than 500 kms of home range wherein they will hunt for the food. They consume nearly 150 kg of food and 150 litres of water a day for which the elephant herds migrate from one forest to another (corridors).

Naturally, they are worse hit by the loss of habitat, as traditional elephant sanctuaries are now home to human.

Worse still, the elephants are feeling a pressure on their habitat at a time their numbers have gone up in Jharkhand.

With their corridors continuously encroached by the villagers, the elephants wreak havoc when they move in search of food - raiding crops, knocking down houses and killing people-and leave behind a trail of destruction.

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Success in jumbo tracking - Tech support to curb man-elephant conflicts

The state forest department's decision to introduce global positioning systems (GPS) to track elephants and curb the jumbo menace near human habitations in the forest division has started to yield dividends.

"The GPS trackers introduced in the division's seven elephant-interference-prone forest ranges have achieved a certain degree of success in tackling man-elephant conflict," said Keonjhar's divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi.

"Villages under the forested areas of Keonjhar, Bhuyan-Juanga-Pidha, Telkio, Ghatgaon, Patna, Champua and Barbil have borne the brunt of elephant depredation over the past few months. Locating the animals was important to drive then away from the forest-side villages. After deliberations with elephant experts, we resorted to the GPS tracking, and it is paying dividends," he said.

Nearly 230 contractual employees, with the assistance of forest officials, are keeping 24x7 watch in batches on the movement of the elephants armed with GPS. Once the elephants are tracked, their location is transmitted to the district control room, which then alerts the patrolling team nearby to drive them away from human habitations, Joshi said.

Technology has made tracking movements of wild elephants and their corridors easier, he said.

Five people have died, while 30 others suffered injuries in elephant attacks since January. Over 100 houses have been damaged by herds, while the extent of damage caused to farmland is yet be assessed, said a forest official.

The GPS-tracking teams spotted 85 elephants on Thursday night. The Champua forest range, which is the worst-hit, recorded 28 jumbos.

Of the 85 elephants tracked, around 20 came from forested areas in Jharkhand and Bengal. Patrolling squads have stepped up watch in those areas to curb possible outbreaks of man-elephant conflict. An official said there have been no reports of elephants causing damage to life and property in the past week.

A herd of 32 elephants from the Jayanta reserve forest in Jharkhand had recently intruded into the forest-side villages in Champua, wreaking havoc in over a dozen human settlements.

The herd had damaged several houses at the villages and ravaged crop fields. However, they were tracked by the GPS and were successfully chased back.

Deforestation has caused the elephant habitat to shrink in Jharkhand. As a result, they migrate to Champua in search of food and water, paving the way for frequent man-elephant conflicts in Keonjhar, said a forest official.

Unlike tigers, elephants are not territorial and migrate over long distances.

Their movement out of their original habitats to enter human habitations triggers conflicts.

The outbreak of man-elephant conflicts has become a recurring phenomenon in 44 forest divisions in the state.

Encroachments from village residents, who live and forage or graze cattle in the protected parks and wildlife sanctuaries, conferred the status of habitation corridors for elephants, has given rise to frequent confrontations between humans and elephants, said a wildlife activist.

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Farmer trampled by elephants

Fear gripped the hamlets abutting the Koundinya elephant sanctuary in Palamaner and Baireddipalle mandals on Thursday, when the body of a farmer who went missing a few days ago was found in the forests in a highly decomposed state, after he was reportedly trampled by elephants.

Palamaner Circle Inspector A. Surendra Reddy said Muneendra, 32, of Chettapenta village of Palamaner mandal, went inside the sanctuary along with cows four days ago. As he didn't return home, his family members and neighbours searched for him but in vain. Some cattlemen noticed the body on Thursday and informed Palamaner police after identifying him.

The officials suspect that as the badly mauled body was found in the forests of adjoining Baireddipalle mandal, the deceased might have run for life from the a wild herd.

Marks of trampling and the footprints and dung of elephants were noticed in the vicinity.

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Eviction drive to remove encroachers from Amchang wildlife

An eviction drive was carried out in Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary in Guwahati today to free the illegally occupied forest area.

Altogether 300 houses were dismantled and families were asked to leave the illegally occupied forest area during the operation conducted by the Forest department with the support of Kamrup (Metro) District Administration, police, health department, Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL), a government release said.

The eviction drive was carried out on the direction of Gauhati High Court.
Two teams conducted eviction drive at Botaghuli and two other teams carried out the drive at Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary behind Veterinary College at Khanapara here.

Deputy Commissioner Kamrup (M) Dr M Angamuthu briefed the teams before the operation not to damage/destroy or burn any belongings of the encroachers and also directed the police to use minimum force for the eviction operation.

Guwahati Commissioner of Police Hiren Nath, Joint Commissioner of Police Diganta Baruah and Chief Conservator of Forest Hara Prasad were also present during the briefing.

The operation included more than 500 police and forest personnel, elephants, cranes, wage labourers with tool kits, to make Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary encroachment free, the release said.

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Elephant calf reunited with wild herd in India

A displaced female elephant calf was rescued near the Pagladiya River on the fringes of the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary in Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD), Assam. The IFAW-WTI Mobile Veterinary Service team based out of Basbari, Manas National Park responded to the local forest department’s request for assistance. The following is a first-person account by Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury, WTI’s Head Veterinarian (Northeast), of the events that followed. --RGC

When the team reached the location along the Pagladiya River, we were able to conduct a preliminary physical examination of the elephant calf, which we estimated to be two to three months old. Fortunately, I found no discernible congenital deformity or serious injury. We provided oral rehydration salts to stabilise the calf. In conjunction with forest department staff we began investigating the presence of any nearby wild elephant herds. Being able to reunite a displaced elephant calf with her mother or natal herd is the ideal outcome of a rescue situation.

Local community members were of great help and soon located a family of three females and two calves across the river. The family tried to cross the river but could not negotiate the swift current, which was especially dangerous for the young calves. Meanwhile, the rescued calf was beginning to show signs of acute dehydration, so we administered a sedative and intravenous fluids.

As darkness set in, we drove out of the forest with the calf and encountered a herd of 20-odd elephants. One of the females charged at our vehicles. We decided to take a chance: I reversed the anaesthesia and removed the intravenous line, and helped the team unload the calf and guide her towards the herd.

With the headlights of our vehicles lighting the way, the calf walked about 20 metres before we cut the lights and reversed the vehicles. As the calf cried out, an adult elephant approached her and soon the rest of the herd followed. From a distance, we could soon hear rumbling and other vocalisations from the herd.

The sounds diminished as the herd and the calf disappeared into a thicket near the forest road. We waited at least an hour before we left the area. The next morning we returned to check for any signs of the herd – or the calf, in case she had been rejected.

One of the most encouraging parts of this incident was the demeanour of the local people. They are on the frontlines of human-elephant interaction, bearing crop losses, injuries and even the deaths of their kin. Despite any negative encounters, people all over Assam still worship elephants. Everyone prayed for the elephant calf to be reunited with her mother and it seems their prayers have in some way bore fruit.

Amidst the many upsetting scenarios and conflicts that a conservationist, and especially a wildlife veterinarian, must confront every day, this sort of community attitude provides fresh hope.

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Census reveals presence of 1976 wild elephants in Odisha: Routray

A latest elephant census report has revealed the presence of 1976 wild elephants in Odisha, State Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray said here today. Mr Routray told newspersons here that the number of elephants has increased by 22 in comparison to census conducted in 2015 last.He said the number of wild elephants in 2017 included 344 male, 1092 female and 502 young elephants .The sex of 38 elephants,however, could not be identified. He said out of the total 43 divisions covered in the census, 37 divisions recorded elephants during the census period. Mr

Routray said 1949 census units were formed and 5847 persons were engaged in the census work. In addition to the regular staff wildlife enthusiasts, NGOs, Research Scholars, Academicians also participated in the elephant census conducted from May 9 to 12 last. The Minister said 1536 elephants comprising of 77.73 per cent of the total 1976 elephants were found in three elephant reserves Mayurbhanj (635), Mahanadi ( 694) and Sambalpur ( 207) which have altogether seven sanctuaries. Five other sanctuaries have 79 elephants which constitutes 3.99 per cent of the total elephant populations.

During the census 27 elephants were found in Parlakhemundi division including Lakhari sanctuary, 30 in Baliguda Division including Kotagarh sanctuary, two in Kalahandi South Division including Karlapat sanctuary, one Chandka Wildlife Division including Chandka sanctuary and 19 in Hirakud Wildlife Division including Debrigarh sanctuary. As many as 361 elephants comprising of 18.26 per cent were found outside the elephant reserves and outside the sanctuaries, the Minister said adding that highest number of 330 elephants were found in Similipal core area followed by 169 in Dhenkanal.

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