West Bengal: Animal apathy

The hideous death of yet another elephant at Dooars after five days of unbearable pain has send shivers down the spines of the state government, environmentalists and the population at large. In this gory incident, an eight-year-old female tusker and a few of a group of 60 odd were hit by a speeding Asansol-bound Express train near Red Bank Tea Gardens on the night of June 26, 2011.

The animal was rescued next morning with multiple fractures, including a broken backbone, from the jungle and brought to the Garumara National Forest’s Elephant Centre for Treatment. All efforts of the vets failed after five days and the tusker succumbed to her injuries. One of the other two elephants, injured in the same incident and rescued next day from Diana forest, also died. Meanwhile, two seriously injured herd mates fled to the nearby Diana forest crossing the river, one of whom was later taken for treatment at Garumara. According to the principal chief conservator of forests Atanu Raha, chances of her survival are bleak.

This by no means is the first incident in the area. Official records reveal that seven elephants were mowed down by a goods train on the night of September 22, 2011 on the same track between Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, taking the grisly death toll of these elephants  – otherwise regarded as the symbol of Ganesh – to 31 since 2008, all, unbelievably, on the same track. 

A local journalist Rajen Pradhan said that  more than 30 elephants died in Dooars between April 2005 and September 2008, out of which 13 were victims of the railways. The chief conservator of forest, north Bengal, wildlife, Sheelwant Patel, had earlier told TSI: “Train collisions in Alipurduar-Shiliguri section killed 36 elephants between 1974 and 2008.” The moody animal, it seems, is under threat from all quarters. Apart from the railways, the omnipresent poachers are at it and have been charged with killing elephants at random at the Simlipal National Park.

According to experts, massive deforestation, poaching and encroachment of forest, crisscrossing elephant corridors by railways are causes of increase in number of collisions and deaths of elephants. India has over 50 per cent of Asiatic elephants – considered to be among the most intelligent – but their population has dwindled in recent years. Even as the animals begin to perish on this scale, several high level meetings between railways and the forest officials have yielded nothing.

An attempt at branding it as the ‘National Heritage Animal’ by environment minister Jairam Ramesh too has failed. In the latest case. Officials confirmed that  railways had been alerted about the approaching herd, but the information was not regarded as significant. Astonishingly, the divisional railway manager of Alipurduar, Satchchidanand Singh, clarified that the railways ‘did stop the train for five minutes’ and then allowed the animals to pass with restricted speed, “otherwise the casualty would have been much more.” Instead, of finding a solution to the burning issue, he passed the buck onto the forest department.