International Herald Tribune report on elephant deaths in North Bengal

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Separate trains hit and kill 2 elephants in a week in Indian state

The Associated Press

Published: November 19, 2006

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CALCUTTA, India: Speeding trains killed two elephants in separate collisions

over the past week in India, officials said Sunday.

 

A passenger train hit an elephant as it crossed a track in the northern

Dooars region of eastern India's West Bengal state Saturday night, said

Tapas Bose, a forest officer in the district.

 

A few days earlier, another elephant died after a freight train knocked it

over in a densely forested area also in the Dooars region, Bose said.

 

He said trains have killed at least six elephants in the area since January.

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The Dooars, home to many wild animals, is about 640 kilometers (400 miles)

north of the state capital, Calcutta.

 

Animal rights activists have been demanding that train drivers be ordered to

slow down while crossing the Dooars.

 

A government committee, set up after protests by non-governmental

organizations, has recommended that trains travel at a maximum speed of 30

to 40 kilometers an hour (18 to 25 mph) in the forests — especially areas

frequented by wild elephant herds — said Animesh Basu of the Himalayan

Nature and Adventure Foundation, a local non-governmental organization.

 

" The idea was that whenever the train drivers spot any animal on or crossing

the tracks, they could bring the train to a halt, " Basu said. " But the train

drivers hardly follow this order resulting in the deaths of so many

animals. "

 

He said trains have killed at least 17 elephants, a leopard and many bison

in the Dooars over the past few years.