(NP): NEPAL SHOOTS DEAD ANOTHER JUMBO

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-City-Kolkata-Another-jumbo-shot-in-Nepal\

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Another jumbo shot in Nepal

 

Pinak Priya Bhattacharya, TNN 13 July 2009, 04:12am IST

 

 

 

JALPAIGURI: Blood was spilt again on the India-Nepal elephant corridor as

one jumbo was shot dead and several others critically injured by villagers in

Nepal's Jhapa district early on Sunday. The fatal attack came just six

days after

a herd of six elephants were shot and injured in the same area.

 

 

 

Sunday's attack was allegedly led by Nepal police and villagers of Sunny

Chowk in Bahundangi village in Jhapa. A herd of around 30 pachyderms from

Kalabari forest in India crossed Mechi river and entered Nepal to raid paddy

fields when they came under fire. The pachyderm shot dead was a juvenile

male elephant.

 

The rest of the herd is still stranded in Bahundangi and foresters fear the

villagers will again open fire at it. " We don't have the jurisdiction to

enter Nepal. If the herd is not disturbed, the elephants will return to

India once the sun sets. But they should be allowed a free passage, " said

Sumita Ghatak, DFO, Darjeeling, Wild Life I.

 

Forest workers from Jhapa reportedly took the carcass of the slain

six-year-old elephant to Birta More and buried it there. According to

reports, they did not make any effort to drive the stranded herd back to

India.

 

" Over the past two years, we have stopped several herds from entering Nepal

in the November-December period when farmers harvest their second crop of

the year. We had intensified patrolling along the Mechi river border and had

succeeded in keeping elephants away from Nepal. But during the monsoon it is

impossible as the entire terrain becomes inaccessible to vehicles, " Ghatak

explained.

 

To stop elephants from entering Nepal, an NGO, Biodiversity Conservation

Society of Nepal, had arranged for an electric fencing along the Mechi bank.

That had proved very useful. " But those engaged in smuggling of foreign

goods and betel nuts to India have repeatedly tampered with the fencing, due

to which it has failed to stop the herds, " said Manoj Thapa, secretary of

the NGO.

 

" The Bengal and the Union governments should immediately take up the matter

with their Nepal counterparts. The Darjeeling district administration should

hold a meeting with the Jhapa administration and take steps to ensure that

people and police in Nepal do not open fire at the herds. If Nepal lacks

proper infrastructure, foresters from Darjeeling can always enter Nepal and

drive back the elephants to India, " said Animesh Basu, coordinator of

Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation.

 

Sunday's incident is the third such in the past month. In the past two

years, three elephants have been shot and 20 injured. Two other elephants

were electrocuted after coming in contact with the electric wires.

 

*Govt rushes team, to apply pressure on Kathmandu** **

 

Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay | TNN *

Kolkata/Kathmandu: Faced with recurrent incidents of firing on elephants

across the border in Nepal, the state government has adopted a two-prong

strategy: stop and divert herds headed to Nepal and put diplomatic pressure

on the neighbour to stop the mindless killing.

The Nepal chapter of World Wildlife Fund (WWFNepal) is also urging both

governments to start talks at the local level to resolve the annual problem.

 

On Sunday, the state’s chief wildlife warden S Mondal rushed to north

Bengal to assess the situation. “We are trying to find an effective solution

of the problem. It has already been taken up with the ministry of external

affairs to initiate a dialogue with Nepal on this issue. Rerouting the herd

is an option,” said principal secretary (forest) K S Rajendra Kumar.

A senior state forest department officer said, “We are going to meet

union minister for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh on July 24 with all

the documents of previous attacks on elephant herds in Nepal. At the

meeting, the final course of action would be decided.”

The officer, however, is not sure about the efficacy of forcible

diversion of herds. Disturbing the elephant corridor may create distress

among the animals. The pachyderms may even go on the rampage if if they are

not allowed to move beyond India.

“Earlier, we brought foresters, who are used to driving away herds

effectively, from Bankura to north Bengal. But it was not that effective.

Elephants in Bankura are used to such diversions. But in north Bengal the

topography is completely different. The forest department is in touch with

NGOs in Nepal, who pass on confirmation if a herd is attacked,” said an

official.

“The drive to block the elephant movement stems from the fear that if

they cross the border and enter Nepal, the animals might be shot at or

poisoned by villagers. There were such incidents in the past,” said Animesh

Bose, the coordinator of the Siliguri-based Himalayan Nature and Adventure

Foundation. There were at least 10 guards who had gone to drive the herd

back into the Indian territory around 12 pm. “We were being helped by

200-odd villagers, when we saw some police vehicles, flashing red beacons,

approaching the road across the Mechi,” said a guard.

On the other hand, authorities in Nepal feel that the problem of elephant

incursion has to be seen in perspective. In early July, due to the plains of

Assam being flooded, herds began crossing the open border and poured into

the Bahundangi area of Nepal’s Jhapa district. There were about 200

pachyderms and they played havoc with the crop in an area of nearly 20

hectare.

The villagers, living under the threat of a lean monsoon, were enraged at

the devastation. On July 7, the anger reached the boiling point as 23 of the

beasts stayed back while the rest returned to the Indian side. The animals

blocked the road to the fields and prevented farmers from ploughing the

land. The villagers approached police, who were forced to fire to scare away

the herd. Though they took care to fire in the air — a fact that Nepal says

is borne out by the footage of a local TV channel that covered the incident

– one of the elephants turned back and charged the crowds, causing a

stampede-like situation.

What is ominous is that elephant incursion is fanning anti-India

sentiments. “Elephants have been following this migration trail for

centuries,” says Santosh Nepal, special policy and programme coordinator at

WWF-Nepal. “But the villagers feel the herds are being deliberately pushed

into Nepal by Indian authorities.”

 

 

 

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