National

Elephant’s ‘electrocution’ raises questions

KOLKATA: The death of an adult female elephant from suspected electrocution in the Gorubathang area of West Bengal’s Kalimpong subdivision early on Wednesday has raised questions over the efficacy of joint-monitoring by officials of the State’s Forest and Power Departments against illegal methods employed by locals to prevent depredation and elephant attacks in the region.

An average of 50 persons die each year in elephant-human conflicts in north Bengal — among the highest in the country.

“People set up temporary electric fencing around their villages by hooking power from overhead transmission lines to keep away elephants from straying in and attacking them or raiding their crops. There have been at least four cases of elephants being electrocuted owing to this in the region last year,” the State’s Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Ujjal Bhattacharjee, told The Hindu. The menace is greater in south India where it has resurfaced after a lull in the Chamarajanagar division of Karnataka, said Raman Sukumar, Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and an internationally acclaimed expert on elephants.

“Joint patrolling by the forest officials, the police and those of the State Electricity Board in some of the sensitive areas against the setting up of such electric fencing has, however, yielded results in most cases, like in the Bannergatta National Park near Bangalore,” Dr. Sukumar added.

As for the situation in north Bengal, committees have been set up in different zones comprising local officials of the Forest Department and the State Electricity Board to track down the setting up of such fencing, Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

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