Pachyderms on knife`s edge

D N Singh

Six wild elephants have died in the past two weeks. Two of them giant tuskers. One died in Champua and the other in Serenda. The first one died when it came in contact with a livewire of 11 KV and the second, an imposing tusker, was found dead a little away from the National Highway. The second tusker had in fact been in news for quite sometime. It had picked up the habit of coming to the highway crossings and stealing food from the parked trucks. Be it banana or any other eatable, it simply picked up the item without even sparing a glance for the people around. Such an animal could have been an asset to the wildlife department once trained. But it was left to die in mysterious circumstances. Another one died in the woods of Narasinghpur after being ill for days. No attention was paid to it by the forest department. The one which died two days back in the Ghatgaon forest left behind a heartrending tale. She had an injured leg and was seemingly waiting for some succour from the human for almost 15 days (video recordings revealed how desperately she was showing her wounded leg to any visitor). But, as usual, the forest department stirred from its state of stupor very late and the damage was done. She died last Monday. The forest authorities are always found looking for an escape route by attributing the cause of the death to old age or, more plausibly, to anaemia. But these causes are only partly to blame. Such items now-a-days do not merit space in the newspapers or enjoy the attention of the electronic media. Nor do they get space on news websites. Such news get tucked in obscure corners of pages that a reader`s attention normally skips. Reason: they do not generate TRPs or ads. Hoardings and boards displaying words like `save forest ` etc. now appear a lot of hot air in the face of ground realities. Between 2002- 2003 and 2007-2008 the state lost 164 wild elephants. Out of which 41 were electrocuted and 26 (all tuskers) were poached. The total population of male elephants as of now stands at about 387. But the number is fast reducing for obvious reasons. They are hunted for their tusks. Going by the claims of the Forest Ministry, the state is left with 1,862 elephants in the wild, supposed to be the highest in Central India pachyderm population. The government meanwhile, keeps mulling ridiculous and impractical plans to reduce man-animal conflict. For example, they ask farmers to grow crops that do not attract elephants! It does not occur to the government that rice being the staple food of the population, cannot be substituted by cotton or soyabean. Plans like restoring the elephant corridors and saving the forest from rapid depletion - due to human encroachment – in nowhere on the government’s radar. Given the pace at which urbanisation is taking place, there is little hope that the cries of distress of the Pachyderms can ever be heard and the remaining population would keep teetering on a knife`s edge.