JUMBO TANGLE CONTINUES IN INDIA: EXPERT FAVOURS CULLING

[Guest guest]

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,