JUMBO TANGLE CONTINUES IN INDIA: EXPERT FAVOURS CULLING

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

 

I feel CULLING is something that is already unofficialy being carried

out in many states.

 

In Assam you have encroachers installing 220 Volts live electric

fence right over the elephant corridors inside the National Parks and

Sanctuaries. I personally has visited the Sonai Rupai Sanctuary many

times, and every time I visit, I find a hamlet comming up. These

people are not tribals, or those who have been displaced due to

floods and other situations. But this is a continuous political

effort by the politicians and the land grabbers/mafia. The Forest

Department is just not equipped to deal with such a situation.

Therefore what results in is more elephants being electrocuted. Some

are reported in the media/press etc, most goes unreported.

 

Recently there was a trap to kill elephants that were frequenting the

Behali tea estate ( 250 kms from Guwahati city ). A herd of 35

elephants was on the move, high tension wire was laid as a trap. Nine

died, several of then seriouly injured managed to flee ( God knows in

what state they are ).

Some of the leading wildlife organisations are taking the matter of

this unofficial CULLING of elephants by electrocution at the highest

court of India, The Hon`ble Supreme Court.

 

The human-elephant conflict as it is generally termed, is becoming

more and more popular.

There is simply NO POLITICAL WILL by any Government in India to trace

the root cause of this conflict and address this at the highest level.

Instead they are more intrested in disbursement of compensation to

the humans for loss of life and property ( as every human whether an

encroacher is a vote bank for the politician ).

There is nothing for the elephants. They do not need money for the

loss of their kith and kins, all they need is SAFE CORRIDORS AND

FOREST LAND. An ariel trip over Assam`s forest cover now shows only

green patches. There is no link between these remaining patches.

 

These greedy, destructive, human beings have encroached everything.

River banks, forest areas, national parks sanctuaries and their

fringes, wetlands are being filled up with municipal solid waste so

that more land is generated and buildings can be erected.

 

Where shall the elephants go !!

 

I am not speaking for the elephants of Assam, I am speaking for the

hundreds of migratory elephants that come down from as far as China

and travel thousands of miles to as far as Bangladesh using India and

other countries as transit.

The entire habitat of elephants is destroyed long back. There is

simply NO hope in restoration of the same.

 

Money will come, money always comes, and money shall definitely

exchange hands in the name of Elephant conservation in India, but it

is too late.

 

We celebrate " Elephant Festival " every year. All decorated elephants

are marched, paraded, with humans clapping their hands.

Some experts even want them to dance, play polo, football, tug-of-

war, races, painting .....phew !!!!

But when it comes to nursing a two year old elephant which is again

an unfortunate result of human-elephant comnflict ( road accident ),

the vet cries out loud on National Television, " We do not have,

instruments, X-ray machine, medicines etc etc " , and this happens at

the most prestigious Veterinary Centre of North east India.

Sounds outrageous, but true.

 

Therefore I do not find the statements of Mr. Dhriti Kanta Lahiri

Chaudhuri as SHOCKING.

 

Culling was always there in India, but we have always ignored its

presence.

 

Azam Siddiqui

 

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

 

Dec 12, 2006 4:45 PM

JUMBO TANGLE CONTINUES IN INDIA: EXPERT FAVOURS CULLING

aapn

Cc: suparnaganguly

 

 

Dear colleagues,

It seems Indian elephants are really in hot

water. In an extensive interview in the latest issue of one of

India's most popular magazines, India Today(Bengali) 18th December,

2006, Dhriti Kanta Lahiri Chaudhuri, a noted elephant expert of

Bengal, has suggested that India should start commercial culling

(killing) of elephants, ie., elephants to be killed for a price to be

paid by hunters, akin to sport hunting in Africa(INDIA TODAY

(BENGALI), 'KILLING ELEPHANTS IS NOT WRONG', Prasun Chaudhuri talks

to Dhriti Kanta Lahiri Chaudhuri, 18/12/2006, pages 46 and 47) . The

journalist who conducted the interview, happens to be my former

colleague, and he contacted me today seeking an opinion to counter

Lahiri Chaudhuri's claims. I have informed another elephant expert,

Mr Kisor Chaudhuri, FRGS, about Lahiri Chaudhuri's assertion and

requested him to give a press statement on this and he has agreed.

Kisorda opposed the elephant polo match in Jaipur and is appalled at

Lahiri Chaudhuri's public stance on culling but he is not surprised

since Lahiri Chaudhuri is a former game hunter. I am expecting that

India Today will appproach him to present the other side of the

story.

Whilst there is no denial of the fact that there is a serious issue

of human elephant conflict in India, killing elephants will neither

help the animals nor the humans. There are alternatives to culling

and they have been successfully practised in Africa. Richard Leakey

has condemned culling in his autobiography. Kisorda has always been

at loggerheads with Lahiri Chaudhuri on the issue of culling, and

indeed with the Forest Department people who are siding with Lahiri

Chaudhuri. He has also told me that he has parted company with his

former research associate Richard Lair after Lair's suggestion that

elephants should 'earn' their own keep by playing music and games. I

have also been informed that the issue of elephant electrocution in

Orissa has been taken up with the Chief Minister of Orissa and

Kisorda is at the forefront of the campaign. Good luck to him.

I have requested him for a writeup on the elephant scenario in India

in the wake of the Jaipur polo match and Lahiri Chaudhuri's public

support for culling. I am expecting to hear from him on his return

from Orissa. Truly, Indian elephants are involved in a weird jumbo

tangle.

Best wishes and kind regards,

 

 

Sincerely,