(NP): Nowhere to run:Elephants Vs Nepal Bullets

[Guest guest]

A NATION SPRAYS BULLETS AT ELEPHANT HERDS !!

 

This time it is not poachers but Nepal's Police with sophisticated weaponry

which is perhaps expected to act as the saviors of these gentle giants have

instead brutally massacred them.

With nowhere to run these jumbos are now being ridiculed as target practices

on a regular affair.

 

STILL THE WORLD IS QUIET.

 

Please see the news reports below and do the best possible one can to stop

this trend from becoming a tradition in Asian nations.

Also please take this issue to the highest possible platform within one's

capacity and voice for their SOS.

 

We must get the offenders punished.

 

Please ask the Nepal Prime Minister to STOP the massacre and demand an

explanation to the incidents:

 

*Office of The Prime Minister and Council of Ministers*

*Singh Durbar*

*Kathmandu, Nepal*

*Phone: 977-1-4211000*

*email**:** **info* <info

 

We must get this act publicized to best we can.

 

Please circulate these new items to all your friends.

 

Let the world know how much a nation hates ELEPHANTS.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Azam Siddiqui

 

 

___

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata-/Elephants-shot-at-by-Nepal-po\

lice-again/articleshow/4755212.cms

 

Elephants shot at by Nepal police again

 

9 Jul 2009, 0126 hrs IST, Pinak Priya Bhattacharya, TNN

 

JALPAIGURI: Less than a month after an elephant herd was shot at on the

Indo-Nepal border, yet another herd was fired at by the Nepal police

onMonday evening. One of the elephants has apparently received a

serious

injury while six to seven others are believed to have been hit by bullets as

well. This herd, along with two others, is still moving around in the border

area.

 

It was almost 48 hours after the shooting that the Indian

forest<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata-/Elephants-shot-at-by-N\

epal-police-again/articleshow/4755212.cms##>authorities

came to know about it. A Nepal NGO Biodiversity Conservation

Society wrote to the state forest department, informing them about the

incident. Forest officials of the Kurseong division held an emergency

meeting to review the situation, but senior officials were not present

there.

 

In a near repeat of last month's incident, policemen at Jhapa in Nepal

opened fire at a herd that crossed over late on Monday evening. Three herds

had crossed over into Debipur and Bamondangi around the same time. Unlike on

the last occasion, Indian forest authorities did not hear gunshots. It was

only after the Nepal NGO informed them that they came to know about it. But

none of the herds have been traced as yet. The herds are still moving around

the Naxalbari-Bagdogra area of India and the Bamondangi-Debipur area across

the border.

 

Indian NGOs have alleged that the forest department has refused to take the

matter seriously or pursue it at the government level. " This is the second

such incident in a month which is alarming. Several elephants were shot at

the same spot two years ago. Despite repeated requests, the forest

department has not taken up the matter, " said Animesh Basu of Himalayan

Nature and Adventure Foundation.

 

But across the border in Nepal, the firing has been taken seriously by NGOs.

Several of them will come together for an emergency meeting called by

Wildlife Conservation of Nepal on July 17. They will discuss the future of

elephants in eastern Nepal at Biratnagar. Indian NGOs are expected to take

part in the meet as well.

 

In early June, an elephant herd was fired upon by Nepal police in Jhapa.

When Indian forest guards sought to prevent the firing, they too were shot

at. At least four elephants were feared injured though none could be traced

later.

 

 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata-/Nepal-police-fire-at-elephant-herd/a\

rticleshow/4642111.cms

 

*Nepal** police fire at elephant herd*

 

11 Jun 2009, 0519 hrs IST, Pinak Priya Bhattacharya, TNN

JALPAIGURI: Nepal police allegedly fired at a herd of elephants near

the Mechi river on the India-Nepal border, injuring several of them.

This is a

near-repeat of a similar incident two years ago.

 

Even a team of Indian forest guards from the Kurseong division was

shot at when it crossed over to Nepal to try and persuade the police

to desist from firing at the animals. The guards had to take cover on

the bank of Mechi and crossed back to India after two hours. While the

herd has moved back to Indian territory, it is still not clear if any

elephant has been killed in Nepal or if those which have returned have

got bullet injuries.

 

Mechi happens to fall on end of the traditional elephant corridor in

north Bengal that stretches for 400 km till Sankosh on the Assam

border. Every year, the herd enters Nepal and moves back to India

after having crossed the Mechi river. In 2007, the Nepal police had

opened fire on the herd killing a tusker. Several had received bullet

injuries leading to an outcry from animal rights organizations all

over the world. It was alleged that the herd was destroying crops and

property. On that occasion, too, the Indian forest department had

tried to persuade the forest officials in Nepal's Dhapa district to

desist from firing but their efforts had failed.

 

On Tuesday evening, a herd of around 60 pachyderms entered Dhapa.

Soon, the elephants reached Bamondangi village where an elephant had

been shot in 2007 and started raiding homes and fields. The Nepal

police, that had been waiting on the banks of the Mechi, opened fire.

For around two hours, they fired indiscriminately at the herd. The

gunshots alerted the Indian authorities who sent a team of guards from

the Kurseong division. But they were not spared either. Even before

the guards could reach the Nepal police outpost, they were sprayed

with bullets. Even though they managed to evade the bullets, the

guards had to lie on the ground for two hours, waiting for the firing

to stop.

 

The forest department suspects that several members of the herd that

has now crossed back to Kalabari forest in Darjeeling district could

have sustained bullet injuries. " We have been hearing distressed

trumpeting calls from the forest which is a bad sign. It indicates

that some elephants are injured. We are trying to locate the injured

animals, " said Silvand Patel, chief conservator of forests, wild life,

north Bengal.

 

Wild life activists and senior forest officials reacted angrily to the

firing. " This is not only unethical but violates international rules

as well. This has been happening for the last two years despite

repeated appeals to spare the elephants. We are going to take it up

with union government soon, " said Animesh Basu, convenor, Himalayan

Nature and Adventure Foundation. The Foundation plans to write a

letter to the union environment minister informing him about the

firing.

 

Senior forest officials felt it was futile to try and persuade the

Nepal authorities to stop firing at elephants. " Two years ago, we had

several meetings with the Dhapa forest officials. They had agreed not

to fire and seek our help in controlling the herd. Accordingly, we had

helped them put up power fences and even trained their workers to

drive away the elephants without harming them. But they went back on

their word, " said S S Bist, elephant expert and managing director of

the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation. Bist had taken the

initiative in 2007 to try and persuade Nepal into an agreement.

" Through the Indian embassy, they had promised not to open fire on

herds. Now, it is clear that such agreements have no value. We must

restrict the elephants to Indian territory. They can be confined to

the Mahananda sanctuary and prevented from entering Nepal, " added

Bist.

 

Last year, an elephant had been electrocuted in Nepal. Later, it died

of its injuries in India.

 

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http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui