Man-elephant
conflict takes heavy toll
While writing in this
column last week,
I had mentioned that one of the unconfirmed causes for the death of
seven elephants in Assam’s Nameri national park during the month of
August, had been attributed to anthrax infection. I had also rued the
fact that a lack of a proper follow-up on the media report published in
the Assam Tribune was the reason why this suspicion of anthrax being the
possible contaminant, could not be confirmed at the time of writing.
In a bid to remedy this
self-deprecation, as well as to clarify logical queries that may have
been raised in the minds of readers, I tried to acquire some additional
information on this issue. But to my utmost chagrin, I now find that the
malady was in fact far greater that was reported, and that the death of
the seven elephants was only the tip of a deadly iceberg, with the
actual number of elephants succumbing exceeding more that thirty.
According to information
provided by Guwahati based Manju Barua, an active conservationist and a
member of the Standing Committee of Indian Board for Wildlife, there is
grave concern for the wild elephants of Assam, since it is evident that
a sort of ‘silent war’ has been declared against them by some people
within one single district of Sonitpur. It is staggering to know that in
a matter of about 70 days during July to September this year, 31
elephants have been poisoned to death there.
It all started with the
death of 20 elephants, which were poisoned in and around Nameri National
Park and Naduar RF in Sonitpur East Division between July 3rd and 13th
August. However, in spite of clear indications that this mass death of
elephants could be due to poisoning, the forest department reportedly
failed to activate the Police machinery to identify and apprehend the
culprits who perpetrated the crime. As a result, the perpetrators were
presumably encouraged to carry on this mode of extermination and
subsequently, in the next month (Aug-Sept 2001), 4 more elephants were
poisoned in Charduar RF, Dhekiajuli. This was followed by another
carnage with 7 elephants being poisoned to death near Tezpur airport in
Goroimari, which incidentally was a Reserve Forest before the airport
was established.
The root cause of this
tragedy lies in the ever-increasing man-animal conflict that percolates
to almost all parts of the country where forests and wildlife are
located. And as always happens, it is the wildlife that ends up paying
the heaviest toll. In the present case, Barua contends that it had been
long evident that this area was vulnerable enough to precipitate such a
`silent cleansing' of the elephant population. The three primary
indicators to this effect were (a) a systematic destruction of elephant
habitat in the district, (b) the local people's protests against
elephant-depredation progressively taking a more organized form, and (c)
the fact that various experts had been in agreement about identifying
this district as a representative area for elephant depredation.
In order to analyse the
level of man-elephant conflict that catalysed this fatal and revengeful
act, Barua outlines that the five reserve forests (RF) located in the
eastern part of the district where these mass killings are occurring,
have experienced systematic destruction of forests for the purpose of
agriculture and homestead. A forest department survey conducted in 1999
enumerates that the area under encroachment in most of these RF’s ranged
from 40 to 70 percent. Most of these encroached areas are now
agricultural fields, which the locals cultivate for paddy and other
crop. Wild elephants that perforce intrude into these areas because of
their own shrinking habitat, are regarded as pests and dealt with as
such, with gruesome consequences.
But now that the deadly
deed has been committed, the least that should be done by authorities -
apart from catching the culprits - is to take appropriate action in
tackling the root causes of the crisis. It should be logically inferred
that if whole communities in these areas are turning hostile, there has
to be a genuine reason that needs to be tackled in its entirety rather
than it being dealt with in a superficial manner. This would necessarily
encompass measures to reduce crop depredations, dealing with the complex
issue of illegal encroachments, and adequately compensating farmers for
the losses they are incurring. Unless this is done, mere apprehensions
of poachers / killers is not likely to redress the problem of man-animal
conflict in any part of the country.