(IN)Elephant actors in Bengal

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http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINDEL28917620071106

Indian elephants turn thespians to save wild mates

Tue Nov 6, 2007 9:31pm IST

 

 

 

By Bappa Majumdar

 

KOLKATA, India (Reuters Life!) - A troupe of trained Indian elephants has

taken up drama to save their brethren in the wild, performing tear-jerking

plays with elaborate death scenes to arouse the sympathy of villagers.

 

The conservation officials behind the performances hope to defuse a

low-level war between dwindling numbers of endangered elephants and growing

numbers of humans.

 

Villagers are increasingly encroaching on forest land, while elephants are

increasingly barging into villages, killing dozens of people each year,

often by trampling on them.

 

The villagers' tactics involve building makeshift electric fences from

electric pylons around villages, which electrocute elephants on contact. A

dozen elephants have been killed in this way in eastern India so far this

year, conservationists say.

 

" The objective of using trained elephants to enact electrocution scenes is

to evoke sympathy for their wild friends, " said Manindra Biswas, an official

from the Forest Department of West Bengal state.

 

The play opens with six elephants looking tense after hearing gunfire. One

elephant walks up to a prop wire, touches it, and crumples into a heap. This

starring role is often played by an especially talented elephant-actor

called Mainak.

 

The five elephant friends desperately try to revive their fallen comrade. In

the final act, the elephants realize all is lost, salute their dead friend,

and walk away. Humans are on hand to narrate the moral of the story.

 

Hundreds of villagers have enjoyed the free, half-hour-long play since the

run began last month, Biswas said, although it is too soon to know how much

of a difference the play will make.

 

" The elephant play is something unique, but there needs to be a more

concerted effort to save the elephants which is surely lacking now, " said

Shakti Ranjan Banerjee of the New Delhi-based Wildlife Protection Society of

India.

 

 

 

About 50,000 wild Asian elephants lived in India a century ago. That number

had dropped to around 21,300 elephants in India's reserves in 2005,

according to the environment ministry, although numbers have been rising in

some areas.

 

 

 

Much of the decline comes as elephants' forest habitats are destroyed to

make way for agriculture, homes and infrastructure, although illegal

poaching for ivory still continues.

 

 

 

Only about 120,000 square km (46,340 square miles) of India's landmass --

less than four percent of the total -- is suitable for elephants, according

to a survey by the environment ministry last year.

 

 

 

(Writing by Jonathan Allen)