elephants killed in their land

[Guest guest]

Dear colleagues, a series of accidents caused by the speeding trains into the

forest in North Bengal (India) has once again raised our concern for the

peaceful existence of the wildlife. Kalimpong Animal Shelter (a unit of Help In

Suffering http://his-india.com ), under the observation and guidance of

Christine Townend, has been actively involved in elephant conservation and

welfare. In my last visit to the forest I did stress and enquire the forest

office about the broad gauze railway tracks when a speeding train whirled

through before our eyes. I was there to conduct survey on the captive elephants

but the welfare aspects of wild elephants cannot be overlooked. Similar is the

case with the Sukna forest in the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary (West Bengal,

India) which is trisected by the Heritage Himalayan Railways, a broad gauze

railway track and a highway road almost all along. A very similar patter of

highway can be noticed in Kaziranga forest in Assam. I'm surprised at the wit

and wisdom of our so called experts and planners who are not at all considering

the wildlife ethics.

 

 

 

All of you are sincerely requested to go through the news (heartbreaking news)

and please pour in your feedback and suggestions which will further help

Kalimpong Animal Shelter in approaching this devastating problem to find a

long-term solution by applying group pressure on the concerned authorities.

 

 

 

I spoke to Mr P.T.Bhutia, the chief conservator of forest( wildlife) North Zone

just now and heard that the injured bison ( in the last para of the news)

succumbed to death last night after the news was printed and the elephant is ok

and has sustained some injury on the temporal region and the right fore leg.

 

 

 

Thanks for your kind attention

 

 

 

Dr Naveen Pandey

 

( naveen)

 

 

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060530/asp/siliguri/story_6285365.asp

 

 

 

 

 

The news is here. Please visit the link to get an idea about the gravity of this

problem. The killed tusker and the photograph are captured in camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Killer tracks claim three in the wild

 

ANIRBAN CHOUDHURY

 

 

 

Alipurduar, May 29: Three wild elephants were killed and another injured

when they fell before speeding trains in the forest reserve here. Not only that,

the tracks did not spare a bison, which is now fighting for its life at

Chapramari forest.

 

The accidents, which occurred in the past 12 hours, have once again

triggered a debate on the speed limit of trains passing through sanctuaries and

wildlife reserves.

 

With the Bengal government's apprehension - that conversion of tracks from

metre to broad gauge would lead to trains picking up speed - coming true, the

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has once again come under the glare of forest

officials and the green lobby.

 

" The issue will be taken up with the railway officials. A meeting with

senior forest staff has been convened tomorrow, " said Ananta Roy, new the forest

minister who visited Rajabhatkhawa in Buxa Tiger Reserve today to take a look at

the tusker that was killed at 8.30 last night. It was hit by the Alipurduar

Junction-bound Mahananda Express.

 

While it took little less than 15 minutes for forest officials to reach

the spot, 9 km from Alipurduar, they were in for another shock this morning when

news reached that another train injured a female elephant and killed its calf at

Damdim in Jalpaiguri forest division. It was around 8 am when the elephant,

along with its calf, was crossing the railway track and was hit by the 625 UP

passenger train bound for Alipurduar.

 

The calf was killed on the spot. This was not the end. At the same spot, a

female elephant was killed by an inter-city express this evening. The same train

had critically injured the bison at Hilla Jhora yesterday.

 

The condition of the bison is serious, as it has suffered huge loss of

blood. At this state, experts feel that it cannot be tranquillised and has

little chance of survival.

 

K.C. Gayen, the principal chief conservator of forests, who was at

Nagracata today, visited the bison, which has taken refuge among the bushes

alongside the track. He said the forest department will sit with railway

officials soon to discuss the issue of speed limits. The track between

Alipurduar Junction and Siliguri had been converted in 2003. Earlier in 2000,

World Wide Fund for Nature and Natural Resources, an NGO, had filed a PIL at

Calcutta High Court, objecting to the conversion on the ground that animals

would be killed by speeding trains.

 

The court had laid down a few rules then for the railway authorities to

follow if they were to ply trains through this tract. Though the speed of the

moving trains were not specified in the high court order, drivers were told to

slow down and blow the horn when passing through the sanctuaries. When the court

announced that the speed of the trains would have to be decided by the NFR, the

railways issued an informal instruction to drivers to stick to 40 kmph when

passing through the stretch.

 

Environmentalists, however, alleged that in reality, drivers picked up

speed when passing through the forests. Animesh Bose, the programme coordinator

of Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, said: " Inside the sanctuaries,

drivers should ply the train at such a speed so that they can stop it whenever

necessary. But they don't. In north Bengal, there are almost 300 wild elephants,

which come under Schedule-I species (most endangered). After gauge conversion,

six elephants (besides the three that died today) have already been killed. We

doubt if the railway authorities are actually following the high court

instructions. "

 

Trailokyonath Rava, the chief public relations officer of the NFR,

described the accidents as unfortunate though he refused to admit that the

railways were responsible. " We follow the high court guidelines. But a train is

not like any other vehicle that it can be stopped as soon as drivers spot the

animals. "

 

P.T. Bhutia, the chief conservator of forest (wildlife) North Zone, said:

" The condition of the bison and the female elephant is critical. "