Shooting of Indian elephants in Nepal worry forest officials
Amidst reports of Indian elephants being shot by Nepalese authorities for straying into their borders, forest authorities in North Bengal say while they are stepping up security along the borders, the issue should be taken up with the neighbours afresh.
"On our part we are trying to guard the 15 km area along the Mechi river on the international boundary to stop elephants from crossing over to Nepal. But it is a difficult task," Chief Conservator of Forest, Wildlife (North Bengal) S B Patel told reporters. "The post mortem report on the dead elephant indicated that it had sustained a bullet injury in its stomach. We suspect that it was shot by the Nepalese police a few months ago when an elephant herd crossed the Mechi river and entered Nepal," he said.
The carcass of a pregnant female elephant was found at Rishibari in the Kurseong forest division in North Bengal on March 4. It had died of scepticemia that had resulted from a bullet wound.
Forest department officials said elephants in the natural course of migration entered Nepal during harvesting of maize and paddy damaging crop and property. Earlier, on a number of occasions elephants which crossed over to Nepal were shot, they said.
The Chief Conservator said that during a meeting with the Union Forest and Environment Minister last year, the issue of Indian elephants being shot by the Nepalese police had been raised. It happened each time a herd from North Bengal crossed into Nepal through Kalabari and Mechi river, he said.
"The Indian government had also written to Nepalese authorities on the issue. What is needed is cooperation at the local level as we have with Bhutan. In this kind of situation response should be on a real time basis," he said.
With shrinking natural habitats and railway lines passing through their corridors, elephants were increasingly approaching human habitats leading to man-animal conflict, Patel said. Echoing him, another senior forest officer in North Bengal said that they had a meeting with the forest personnel and some NGOs of nepal last year to solve the problem, but with limited success.
Because it is not possible to provide compensation for crops and property damaged in Nepal by the elephants, he said. "We have apprised the central government and intervention at a higher level is necessary to find a solution to the problem," CCF, North Bengal N C Bahuguna said.
