Assam – Man-Animal Conflict increases

Data collected by conservationists has revealed that 40 elephants have died in Assam in the last 100 days. All of them have been killed due to unnatural causes, with the primary reason being mowing down by moving trains, electrocution, poisoning and accidental falls in ditches especially near tea garden areas.

Since back in the day, herds of elephants have been regularly invading human settlements in search of food, thereby damaging houses and crops in the process. As a result, incidents of man-animal conflict are steadily on the rise. “Elephants are considered to be a problem as they damage crops and property during the harvest season. Also, unlike rhinos or tigers,elephants are not a state or national animal.Therefore, they evoke less public sentiment when they die.” said an anonymous conservationist. He also added that while public reaction is almost spontaneous in case of rhino deaths which are followed by strong condemnations and demands for exemplary punishment, the death of elephants fails to produce the same level of public outcry. “Unfortunately, We don’t get an out-pour of sympathy and public support for elephants,” he said.

Bibhab Talukdar, the secretary general of Aaranyak, an NGO that works on biodiversity conservation, said, “It is very unfortunate that more than 40 elephants have died in the last 100 days. It clearly shows that elephants are not getting priority when it comes to conservation of animals.”

While rhinos in the state are confined to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, an estimated population of 500 elephants in Assam have their habitats  spanned  across all  reserved  forests. The state has five elephant reserves covering an estimated area of 10,967 sq km. Only a small portion of these reserves are in protected areas, in the form of national parks or wildlife sanctuaries, while the rest are reserved forest areas.

Conservationists pointed out that elephant reserves in the state do not enjoy the same level of protection as national parks. They fear that large-scale deforestation of elephant habitats,which lie outside protected areas, has endangered their survival.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes