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Death of elephants shocks wildlife enthusiasts

P. Oppilli

CHENNAI: The death of four elephants in Coimbatore on Monday has shocked wildlife enthusiasts and Forest Department officials.

Raman Sukumar, professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said the Centre had already set up a committee to look into train accidents in which elephants were killed. The committee would visit all the places where elephants got killed while trying to cross the track.

Prof. Sukumar who is now in West Bengal said that unlike southern India, elephants getting killed while trying to cross rail tracks is very common in West Bengal. “In my estimate, more than 70 elephants died all over the country in train accidents in the last five years.”

In the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border, near Walayar in Coimbatore district, elephants regularly crossed rail tracks before entering nearby human habitations. Prof. Sukumar said the problem could be solved by erecting a barrier for a few km on the side of the track. This would help to prevent animals straying into human habitations.

He called for a study to ascertain why such a large herd of elephants entered the human habitation close to Coimbatore. Issues such as whether the pachyderms were disturbed in their habitats or they got attracted by crops must be studied.

Prof. Sukumar and his team had successfully fixed GPRS collars on a couple of crop-raiding elephants in West Bengal. With the information decoded by the satellite station, the authorities were able to track the movement of animals and alert Forest Department officials, thus reducing the chances of man-animal conflict.

Collaring an animal would help to track its movement, the exact path it was using, the time of the year and the speed with which it was moving. So far, no southern State had planned a similar programme.

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