Death of elephants due to collision with trains irks Aaranyak

GUWAHATI: The incident of the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express hitting a herd of elephants in the Jorhat district on Sunday night has caused quite a stir among the conservationists and local people.

Taking cognizance of the threat posed by train collision and how it undermines the conservation efforts to safeguard elephants and other wildlife, Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org), a biodiversity conservation organization, is deeply disturbed and stands in solidarity with these gentle giants and people of Assam in the state of shock.

It is alarming that since January 2022, eight elephants were killed by trains, four alone in a little over a month in Assam. The areas with the highest train-elephant hit occurrence are in Kampur-Hojai-Diphu-Mariani, as per a recent study.

Reports indicate that between 1990 and 2018, 115 elephants died in Assam due to train hits alone. The state with a wild elephant population of approximately 5719 accounts for substantial unnatural elephant mortality due to train hits, preceded only by elephant electrocution.

Linear infrastructure such as railway tracks often run through pristine wildlife habitats leading to habitat fragmentation creating barriers to wildlife movement, and causing casualties due to collision. The threat of wildlife-train collision is magnified for long-ranging species such as Asian elephants that need expansive areas for survival.

Aaranyak strongly urged the Indian Railways to look into the matter and act immediately in addressing the issue and curtail elephant-train collision. Aaranyak demands that the Railways look into the matter and come up with short-term mitigation measures and long-term solutions to safeguard our heritage animals.

Aaranyak believes that conservation costs must get priority while planning for developmental projects such as linear infrastructure and other land-use changes. Government Line Departments must work in tandem to achieve this holistic goal, a press release said.

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