(IN): US mulls jumbo action plan

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091210/jsp/northeast/story_11843232.jsp

 

 

US mulls jumbo action plan

- Agency suggests use of technology to reduce conflictA STAFF REPORTER*

 

*Guwahati, Dec. 9:* The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has

underlined the need to prepare an action plan for elephants in Assam and

pledged support to it.

 

“There is a need for an elephant action plan for Assam — an important

elephant range state — and we will support it,” Meenakshi Nagendran,

programme officer of Asian Elephant Conservation Fund of US Fish and

Wildlife Service, said during a two-day workshop on human-elephant conflict

here today.

 

The programme titled, “Strategic planning workshop on mitigation of

human-elephant conflict in Assam”, concluded today.

 

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency

dedicated to the management of wildlife. The present population of elephants

in Assam is 5,281, which is 58 per cent of the animal’s population in

Northeast India.

 

The US official said modern technology could be used in elephant

conservation.

 

“Assam is an important place for us and proposals from non-governmental

organisations are being carefully looked at,” the official told* The

Telegraph *later.

 

The agency has offered support to various projects on mitigation of

human-elephant conflicts in Assam.

 

Parbati Barua, noted elephant catcher, said there had been an increase in

the number of elephant electrocution cases in the state of late.

 

“We must protect our elephants now, otherwise their population will

gradually dwindle and a day might come when we get to see their images in

books only and not in reality,” she added.

 

The Assam government has already set up joint co-ordination committees in

every district for monitoring the maintenance of the transmission lines to

prevent electrocution of elephants.

 

Deliberations were held looking into various facets of human-elephant

conflict in the state during the workshop.

 

Wildlife expert Anwaruddin Choudhury said discussions should be held on

providing inviolate spaces to elephants within their habitats by relocating

the settlers.

 

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