Letter to the Telegraph editor protesting killing of elephant

December 20, 2006

People

gather around the body of 'Laden', a rogue elephant killed by forest

officials in Behali tea estate in Assam on December 16. (Reuters)

Requiem for 'rogue' elephant Laden

The news item " Death warrant out for rogue Laden " in The Telegraph northeast

dated December 15, 2006, said " it should take one single bullet to fell a

rogue " . So much ado over a " rogue " elephant!

The statement itself sounded like a royal proclamation. As did the recent

proclamation by the government to kill the rogue elephant that was,

according to media reports, on a rampage in Sonitpur East forest division.

(The elephant was killed on December 16).

The nature of the pronouncement is quite arbitrary since the identity of the

" rogue " is, to my mind, ambiguous. The main incident that prompted the

proclamation occurred on the night of November 19 at Borbhogia village near

Jamugurihat. A herd of some nine elephants raided the paddy fields near one

Dibyajyoti Bora's house and one of them attacked the family and killed all

its four members.

Did the 'rogue' have any identification mark? If yes, what was it and was it

unique? Could anyone have definitely seen such mark(s) in the dark? Is there

any other basis for identifying the rogue? How was the herd identified?

As elephants are known to range over long distances and it has been almost a

month since the incident occurred, could the errant herd not have moved

elsewhere and another herd come into that locality?

Then there is a question of " justice " or the basis for justice. Because a

certain elephant has destroyed houses, the standing paddy crop and killed

human beings, the animal is proclaimed a " rogue " . Killing the rogue with a

single bullet is considered the best way to deliver justice.

Why not kill all the elephants in the state and solve the problems spawned

by human-elephant conflict, once and for all?

I strongly believe that bullets are not the only answer in a democracy. If

we are serious about minimising the human-elephant conflict, then why not

seek long-term measures?

*Soumen Dey,

*Parvati Nagar, Tezpur

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