Special Article
New Delhi, 18 February 2008
Brink Of Extinction
ELEPHANT ON THE RUN
By Radhakrishna Rao
Once widely venerated as the symbol of divinity and the hallmark
of royal splendor, the graceful grey giant of the wilds in India, which
numbered over 1,00,000 at the turn of the Century, is now fighting hard to
survive as a distinct wild species.
Domesticated elephants which are widely deployed during
temple fairs and festivals in many parts of the country are held sacrosanct by
a large majority of the Indian population. Trained elephants are also used
widely for the transportation of logs. Unfortunately, however, the pious sentiments
associated with the elephants have
hardly made any contribution to the conservation efforts to pull this majestic
and magnificent beast from out of the brink of extinction.
Though, Karnataka has now the distinction of housing the
largest elephant population group in the country, shrinking corridors, drying
forest stretches and dwindling water
availability are all taking a heavy toll on the elephant population. Elephants
in search of food and water which stray into human settlements get killed or
maimed in conflicts with the people. Also, a number of people too get killed by
the trampling hordes of elephants foraying into human habitats close to the
elephants reserves.
According to the wildlife biologists, the increasing
human-elephant conflicts in various parts of India could be traced to the rapid
deterioration of the forest resources. A study by the Wildlife Trust of India asserts
that not less than 20 elephants get
killed each year in man-beast conflicts.
A Special Task Force set up in 1992 drew a conservation
roadmap for the elephants and looked at essentially
three aspects of the problem: identifying crucial elephant corridors, habitat
enrichment and conflict resolution measures. Around 88 elephant corridors have
been identified across the Indian
landmass. These corridors help the
elephant herds move from one habitat to another without any hassles.
Meanwhile, there has been a marked increase in the incidence
of disoriented herds of elephants getting killed by bullet shots, electric
shocks or simply through poisoning. Occasional forest fires, expansion of farming
and developmental activities deep into the forest stretches, denudation of
standing forests for construction of roads or putting up hydel and mining
projects as also the reckless
promotion of eco tourism are all posing a serious threat to the elephant
habitats across India.
According to the National Wildlife Action Plan 2002-2016,
the Ministry of Surface Transport and the Railways Ministry are required to
plan roads and highways in a manner that all the national parks and sanctuaries
are left untouched. More importantly, the wildlife corridors too are to be
avoided.
Meanwhile, the Planning Commission
wants the Project Elephant Directorate to take up a five-year action plan with 11
monitorable parameters. There is also concern over the impediments in the way
of the free migration of elephant herds. Needless to say, regular migration is
vital for the free mixing of elephant groups to obviate the problem of genetic
uniformity and inbreeding.
The proposed development of the Mysore Elephant Reserve planned
to run across the Cauvery Wildlife
Sanctuary and the Bandipur and Nagarhole
National Park is expected
to create a condition conducive to the unhindered migration of the elephant
groups. Also a 744-sq.km area in Saharanpur
and Bijnore in Western U.P. is soon to be notified as the latest elephant
reserve in the thickly populated State where forests are depleting fast. The Bijnore-Saharanpur
corridor connects the Rajaji National Park (RNP) with the Jim Corbett
National Park. The RNP
spread over 800sq.km across the
States of UP and Uttarakhand is an important elephant reserve in the Shivalik
ranges. The Dudhwa
National Park in
Lakhimpur Kheri in UP has 28 elephants.
The Chota Nagapur belt of Bihar and parts of North Bengal along with mountainous, tribal dominated North-Eastern
constitute another major elephant territory. In the northern and eastern parts
of the country, the dwindling of the availability of food, fodder and water along
with the indiscriminate poaching by politically influential and well armed poachers
gang have all conspired to drive this beautiful beast to the brink of
extinction.
Similarly, in the turbulent North-East, the unchecked
militant activities have taken a heavy toll on the elephant population. The Naga
and Bodo militants have found in the elephant tusk, a lucrative means to raise
funds for sustaining their separatist activities. These militant groups have
intimate links with international wildlife smuggling syndicates.
In the Manas sanctuary of Assam, which borders Bhutan, well
armed Bodo and Naga militants continue to slaughter elephants with little
resistance. The poorly equipped and least motivated forest guards are easily
overwhelmed by these militants. By all means these demoralized forest guards
are no match to the militants armed to the teeth with the latest state of the
art weapons.
A study by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) reveals
that the home range of a healthy elephant herd is about 600-sq.km. Additionally,
the fragmentation of the forest stretches poses a serious threat to the growth
of the elephant herds. The BNHS study recommends that as the number of the breeding
males keeps on dwindling on account of poaching, the surviving males in the
reproductive age group should have an access
to a sprawling habitat wherein they can impregnate females. For this to happen,
they are required to move freely and without any impediments from one forest
stretch to another. It is against this backdrop, that elephant experts have
suggested the improvement of the existing corridors the creation of new
corridors.
Studies carried out in various parts of Tamil Nadu showed that
the conversion of natural forests into commercial timber plantations has
reduced the elephant habitat by at least 10 per cent. As in parts of Africa and
Asia, in India
too, the ongoing deforestation and habitat fragmentation are driving the herds
of hungry elephants to human settlements, leading to the destruction of
standing crops as well as the death of the beast and the man.
Conservationists drive home the point that the tempo of
conflicts between the elephant and the man is a reflection of the ecological
degradation eating into the vitals of the elephants habitats. Surprisingly, in
contrast to the situation in India,
many African countries are faced with the problem of an exploding elephant
population putting a severe pressure
on the forest resources. In order to overcome this problem, countries like South Africa
have decided to go in for the selective culling of the elephant population.
---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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