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Brink Of Extinction:ELEPHANT ON THE RUN,BY Radhakrishna Rao, 18 February 2008 Print E-mail

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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