(IN): Unleasing terror on elephant herds

[Guest guest]

Kind attention: Director Project Elephant, New Delhi

 

Sir,

 

With reference to the news report below, I would like to draw your attention

into the recent spurt of conflicts between humans and elephants which is

being helplessly watched by the nation.

One can understand that in a conflict situation most of the criminals escape

penalty when they cry out loud that all they did was in self defense.

 

But here we have in the state of Nagaland and Assam a spurt of incidents

ranging from militants and gun trotting people attacking herds of elephants

for no fault of theirs from right inside reserve forests and protected

areas.

Such reports are not isolated and have been time and again got published and

reported in the media.

But surprisingly we have not heard any news of action taken against the

enforcement agencies or the offenders who carry our the crime.

 

Sir, if this trend is allowed to continue I am afraid you will have no other

option left by to GUN down and wipe out the entire herds of wild elephants

of this region.

Is this what we are actually waiting for- a cull of the wild elephants?

 

In the past the a local MLA of Assam chased a wild herd herd with his mates

on a maruti gypsy spraying bullets on them within Kaziranga National park,

and this the MLA claimed himself on record in an esteemed national daily.

 

Have we closed the shop of conservation of wildlife or are we least

bothered?

 

I would appreciate a reply from your end which can clarify the stand of

project elephant and the Ministry of Environment and Forests on the

rising atrocities or terror unleashed on elephant herds in the Northeastern

region of India, West Bengal, Orissa and other parts of India.

 

One must remember that these attacks on the wild elephant herds are well

planned. They are not innocent villagers. They are hardcore criminals armed

with sophisticated weapons and a well choreographed plan, and we have to

fight them back with an equal or more will power if we are to save our

wildlife.

 

A few days back some militants even came inside the Kaziranga National Park

and spent the night with the forest guards, had food with them and then

walked away with the weapons of the guards. The newspaper headline

said: Militants

lay siege on Kaziranga Camp. So you can see how safe protected areas

actually are (see web link below).

Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081126/jsp/guwahati/story_10164827.jsp

 

If this can happen to one of the most celebrated protected areas of India

which has been loosing one Rhino after another (I have almost lost count)

and despite such losses militants can sneak in and picnic at their will, I

am afraid we would soon loose every precious National Wealth that we have in

form of wildlife to them.

 

Also please find a copy of the mail received from the President of a local

NGO which carried out a commendable job of detaining some organized poachers

who were then let off by the Forest Department. A brilliant example of the

state of affairs here.

 

Regards,

 

Azam Siddiqui

 

Master Trainer in Animal Welfare

Animal Welfare Board of India

 

+91- 94350 48481 (Ph)

 

 

 

Copy to:

 

1. Secretary, MOEF

 

2. Chairman & Secretary, Animal Welfare Board of India.

 

3. Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Chairperson, People for Animals and Hon`ble Member

of Parliament.

 

4. Ms. Belinda Wright, Executive Director, Wildlife Protection Society of

India

 

5. Dr. Chinny Krishna, President, Blue Cross Society of India

 

6. Ms. Suparna Ganguly, Vice President CUPA & CWRRC, Bangalore

 

7. Ms. Anuradha Sawhney, Chief Functionary, PETA- India

 

 

----------------------

 

 

 

Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081128/jsp/guwahati/story_10176060.jsp

 

Blockade to protest elephant killings

 

A STAFF REPORTER

 

*Guwahati, Nov. 27: *Several student organisations, led by AASU, have

clamped an economic blockade by closing the Sonari-Mon road at Namtola in

Sivasagar district today, demanding the arrest of the killers of three

elephants.

 

The trio, including a calf, were killed at Yangpang basti under Tizit

subdivision of Mon district in Nagaland bordering Assam yesterday, forcing

Dispur to lodge a strong protest with Nagaland.

 

The conservator of forests (Upper Assam division), J.M. Kouli, said a herd

of elephants, grazing near Manjushree tea estate yesterday on the Assam side

of the border, was chased half a kilometre inside Nagaland by miscreants

from that state.

 

" The men then opened indiscriminate fire on the herd killing three

elephants, including a calf, " Kouli said. He said other members of herd are

still stuck on the other side and possibly injured. Kouli said Assam has

taken up the matter with Nagaland.

 

Mon district deputy commissioner Dinesh Kumar said he had ordered an inquiry

into the incident.

 

Forest officials said the herd was from the Abhayapur reserve forest located

along the Assam-Nagaland border in Sivasagar district.

 

" The herd keeps on crossing over to the other side of the border in search

of food. But yesterday, armed men chased them and gunned down three, " a

forest official at Sivasagar said.

 

A team of forest and police officials rushed to the place after being

informed by villagers on the Assam side of the border about the incident.

" We heard cries of elephants and gunshots but we could not do anything since

it was happening on the Nagaland side and the killers were armed with

sophisticated weapons, " the official said.

 

Labourers of Manjushree tea estate told visiting forest officials today that

they saw Naga men slicing off pieces of meat from the elephants even before

they had died.

 

Sivasagar district AASU president Kushal Dutta said a group of officials

from Nagaland, led by a senior police officer, had come to meet the striking

students at Namtola around noon today. " We gave them a week's deadline to

punish the persons involved in the killing of the elephants . "

 

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On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 2:26 PM, atanu dey <atanu_dey1 wrote:

 

> I herewith forward an SOS message from HELP, an NGO working in southern

> Assam.

> -Atanu.

>

> On 22nd November 12, hunters killed about 5,000 small bards at Laxmi Nagar

> Tea Estate, P.S. Lala, Dist. Hailakandi, Assam. We, the members of HELP

> handed over the hunters along with the killed birds. But on the next morning

> police released the accused & the birds were missing from the Police

> Station. We talked with D.F.O, Hailakandi. But till date they have not taken

> any firm step. Today (Nov. 26) along with three other NGO's, we have

> submitted a written complaint to the D.F.O. In this regard, your

> co-operation is required. Photographs of killed birds are posted below :

> You can contact us :-

>

> Pranay Nath,

> President, HELP.

> Dist. Hailakandi, Assam

> Ph.- 9401130687, 9957009270

> e-mail : pranay_nath <pranay_nath%40rediffmail.com>

>

 

 

 

 

 

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