Elephant tusks enroute to Bangladesh recovered in Agartala, India

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Elephant tusks recovered

 

Agartala, Dec 23: Forest officials in Tripura are concerned over the

increase in elephant poaching cases. In one such case, five elephant

tusks weighing over five kilograms were recovered from three

poachers.Acting on a tip off, Agartala Police set a trap and nabbed

the poachers who were attempting to smuggle the tusks to Bangladesh.

According to official estimates, there are around fifty elephants

left in Tripura, suggesting a steep decline in their population.

Tripura forest officials suspect the hand of extremists in such

incidents, as this would fetch them a large amount of money.``We

suspect the activities of the extremists also. Nowadays the

extremists are roaming inside forest areas with guns and all that. So

the elephant tusk is of immense value and they can use this for their

earnings, " said Bimalengshu Ray, a forest ranger. The elephant's

sorry plight was recognised by the government in 1990 when the

Ministry of Environment and Forests took the initiative of setting up

a task force for conserving this endangered species. After

identifying several existing elephant reserves all over the country

the task force launched Project Elephant in 1992 covering all states

having elephant population. India has over 500 animal sanctuaries,

referred to as Wildlife Sanctuaries (IUCN Category IV Protected

Area). Among these, the 28 Tiger Reserves are governed by Project

Tiger, and are of special significance in the conservation of the

tiger. Some wildlife sanctuaries are specifically named Bird

Sanctuary, eg. Keoladeo National Park before it attained National

Park status. Many National Parks were initially Wildlife Sanctuaries.

(Agencies)