Jumbo deaths

The death of as many as 18 wild elephants in the Bamunipahar hillock under the proposed Kandali reserved forest in Nagaon district in central Assam on the night of May 12 has come as a rude shock to the conservationists and environmentalists across the globe. While initial findings from the post-mortem examination have reportedly indicated that the elephants might have been killed due to a major lightning strike, most conservationists, as well as the common people, do not appear to be ready to buy this theory. While a government press release has also described it as a "freak natural incident" with the suspicion of the lightning strike being attributed to meteorological reports, the final report is awaited as samples have been sent to laboratories for further microbiological and toxicological examination. The 18 elephants comprised ten females and eight males including calves. Meanwhile, there has been a strong suspicion that the pachyderms were poisoned to death by someone having vested interest in the proposed reserved forest not very far away from the last lap of the East-West Corridor extending from Nagaon to Silchar. There have also been allegations that the elephant deaths could have some connection to the allotment of land to a particular private company in that area to set up a solar power plant. If such allegations are true, then it is a very serious matter which should be thoroughly investigated by an expert agency. It is however very significant to note that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken serious note of the elephant tragedy and has expressed concern over the deaths.

While the incident has attracted worldwide attention, what must be also kept on record is that Assam has been witnessing a series of incidents of wild elephant deaths in the past few years. In certain cases, villagers have taken to poisoning herds of wild elephants coming out of their shrinking habitats in search of food, while in some other cases, people encroaching upon reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and animal corridors have been causing death to the elephants by various means including poisoning and electrocution. In some cases, tea garden authorities have also allegedly taken to killing elephants by electrocution and by digging ditches. Kaziranga has been a glaring example where elephant corridors have been systematically encroached upon and blocked by some unscrupulous elements, with the authorities – the forest department – either tacitly extending support to such unscrupulous elements, or deliberately turning a blind eye to such encroachments. In many cases, the encroachers and barrier-creators also happen to be politically powerful and well-connected people, who have used their clout to set up big hotels and resorts right on the boundary of the Kaziranga National Park. Over and above these kinds of incidents, there has also been several incidents in which elephants have been killed after being hit by speeding railway trains, as the railway tracks in Assam pass through or nearby reserved forests, elephant reserves and other wildlife sanctuaries in many districts. The Assam Forest Department owes an explanation as to why it has failed to take effective measures to prevent the increasing number of elephant deaths in the state.

Similarly, the BJP-led government has to live up to the occasion and prove its efficiency in the protection of wild elephants as well as their habitats and corridors. Chief Minister Dr Sarma probably needs to take a call on this aspect as early as possible and take a strong stand. After all elephants, alongside tigers, are at the uppermost point of the animal pyramid, on which the entire environment and human civilization are also heavily dependent. Elephants are also an important cultural icon in India. According to mythology, the gods (devas) and the demons (asuras) turned the oceans to look for the potion of life so that they would become immortal. When they did this, nine jewels surfaced, one of them was the elephant. In Hinduism, the powerful god that is honoured before all sacred rituals is the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha, who is also called the "Remover of Obstacles". They hold significant meanings to the humans that live around them, in their population. Commonly known as a 'keystone species, elephants play a critically important role in the entire ecosystem.