25 ERTs formed to protect Rohingyas from elephants

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has formed 25 Elephant Response Teams (ERTs), each made up of 10 Rohingya volunteers, as part of its plan to reduce incidents involving elephants coming into conflict with refugees in the world's largest refugee settlement.

They are being equipped with whistles, torches, and loudspeakers and will work from bamboo watch-towers being established around the refugeesettlement to help guard the site, said the UNHCR.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency is partnering with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Bangladesh to reduce elephants' deaths in the refugee settlement.

Since the Rohingya refugee influx into Bangladesh started, there have been at least 10 deaths resulting from human-elephant incidents in the main Kutupalong-Balukhali refugee settlement.

The highly congested refugee site, which houses around 570,000 refugees who fled Myanmar, used to be forest land but is now crowded with tens of thousands of refugee shelters and services, it said.

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UNHCR launches programme to protect Rohingyas from elephant attacks

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Union for Conservation of Nature have launched an action plan to prevent further deaths from wild elephant attacks at the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp.

At least 10 refugees, including young children, have been killed in such incidents at the camp.

The camp lies along the migratory route between Myanmar and Bangladesh used by the critically endangered Asian elephants, the UNHCR said in a statement.

The ‘tusk force’ will install watch-towers at key lookout points around the settlement and organise an Elephant Response Team to raise an alarm if elephants enter the camp. The programme will also set up elephant routes and corridors so refugees know what areas to avoid during an incident. It will also implement an awareness campaign regarding the risks.

“This partnership is critical not only to ensure the conservation of elephants, but to protect refugees, a number of whom have tragically already lost their lives,” said Kevin Allen, UNHCR’s head of emergency operations in Cox’s Bazar district.

The project is part of wider initiatives by the organisations to mitigate the environmental impact of the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

They also plant to raise awareness among refugees and locals about the importance of forest resources and ways to improve the environment in the refugee camps and the surrounding areas.

Project leaders will also advocate for reforestation efforts in the area.

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‘Tusk force’ set up to protect refugees and elephants in Bangladesh

UNHCR and the International Union for Conservation of Nature are working together to mitigate incidents between elephants and humans in the world’s largest refugee settlement.

KUTUPALONG CAMP, Bangladesh – Battered and badly bruised, Anwar Begum, a Rohingya refugee, surveys the damage around her bamboo shelter.

Sleeping mats ripped apart; plastic buckets and even metal cooking pots and plates torn and dented. Her shelter was toppled – but neighbours in Kutupalong refugee settlement near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, have helped her re-erect it.

“I’m very grateful, thanks to the almighty, to be alive,” the 45-year-old said. “But I’m terrified.”

Just a few days earlier, in the middle of the night, a wild elephant entered her small shelter and killed her husband, 50-year-old Yakub Ali. It was one of several elephants that wandered into the camp, damaging shelters and injuring their occupants, following their usual migratory path.

Anwar and her family fled their home in Myanmar six months ago, settling in the vast Kutupalong refugee settlement. “We weren’t aware of any elephant presence here,” she said. “I remember once seeing elephants back home in Myanmar, but in the distance – never close up like this.”

Clearly shaken, Anwar recounted the events that occurred that night. “It was around 1 a.m. I heard a heavy sound and felt the roof falling onto us. It was quick and loud. I started screaming. It all went very fast and my husband was killed”.

Anwar was treated in hospital for three days. By the time she came back to the settlement, neighbours had helped to rebuild her shelter. UNHCR’s partners have now provided her with new household items, and Anwar has received counselling from UN Refugee Agency protection staff.
UNHCR and its partner IUCN – the International Union for Conservation of Nature – have now launched an action plan to try to prevent incidents like this, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 10 refugees, including young children, in Kutupalong settlement.

“This partnership is critical not only to ensure the conservation of elephants, but to protect refugees.”

The highly congested site, which used to be forest land, lies along one of the migratory routes between Myanmar and Bangladesh for critically endangered Asian elephants.

The so-called ‘tusk force’ will work with both the local host community and refugees, in close consultation with the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s Office.

Mitigation plans include installing watch-towers in key spots around the settlement, as well as setting up Elephant Response Teams who can sound the alarm if elephants enter the site. Elephant routes and corridors will be clearly marked, so that people will know which areas to avoid. Campaigns will also be carried out to create better awareness of the risks.

“This partnership is critical not only to ensure the conservation of elephants, but to protect refugees, a number of whom have tragically already lost their lives,” said Kevin Allen, UNHCR’s head of emergency operations in Cox’s Bazar district.

The project is part of a wider initiative by UNHCR and the IUCN to mitigate some of the environmental impacts linked to the establishment of refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar.

Other plans include carrying out environmental education and awareness among refugees and the host communities about the importance of forest resources as well as taking steps to improve the environment in the refugee settlement areas and nearby surroundings.

The project leaders will also advocate for reforestation programmes to ensure that natural resources and a shared environment are better protected.

Your support is urgently needed to help refugee children, women and men in Bangladesh


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At least 10 Rohingyas trampled to death by wild elephants

Wild elephants have trampled at least 10 Rohingya refugees to death in separate incidents, the United Nations said on Tuesday, according to agencies reports.

The reports added, the UN is announcing a new plan to foster ‘safe coexistence’ between animals and sprawling refugee settlements.

Refugee camps have begun to rise alarmingly after around 700,000 Rohingyas fled from Myanmar and settled in Bangladesh’s border area of Cox’s Bazar, including Kutupalong which now holds the distinction of being the largest refugee camp in the world.

The United Nations refugee agency said the threat from elephants had emerged as a new concern as wild elephants in search of food often attack these refugee camps smelling food.

Notably, the area now occupied by the Kutupalong refugee settlement was an important habitat for Asian elephants for quite some time.

Reports quoted an UN agency report as stating that there are about 40 elephants in the area and they move between Bangladesh and Myanmar in search of food.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), agencies reports said, has announced partnering with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has experience in Bangladesh helping people live alongside wild elephants.

The plan includes imparting training to the refugees to emergency response during elephant attacks.

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Rohingya man killed in elephant attack

A Rohingya man was killed in an elephant attack in Majurchhara area of Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhia upazila early Friday.

The deceased was identified as Yakub Ali, 45, son of Mahmud Ali.

A wild elephant entered the camp around 3 am and killed Yakub by using his turtle, said officer-in-charge of Ukhia Police Station M Abul Khayer quoting family members.

Earlier, 12 Rohingyas, including women and children, were killed in several elephant attacks in the Rohingya camp.

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Elephants and Rohingya Muslim refugees jostle for space in Bangladesh

An elephant gets rid of a fallen tree that created a highway block in Barishal, 75 miles south of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, Friday, Nov. 16, 2007.(Photograph: Pavel Rahman, AP)

Mohammed Alam and his younger circle of relatives had been taking part in their first excellent night time’s sleep in a very long time when the elephant attacked their tent.

He and his spouse, each Rohingya Muslims, had fled their village in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state after infantrymen started burning homes. They’d trekked for 5 days to go the border and carve out house at the fringes of Bangladesh’s sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp. That night time, in October, they idea they had been protected. “We had been dozing so soundly,” Mohammed says. “I didn’t know anything else.”

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Wild elephant kills one in Rangamati

Rangamati: A man was trampled to death in a wild elephant attack in Sadar upazila of the district on Thursday morning.

Deceased Kina Chandra Chakma, 62, was the son of Boloram Chakma of Jibtoli union.

Kotwali Police Station source confirmed the death.

The source said a herd of wild elephants attacked Kina Chandra and trampled him to death in Jibtoli union when he was going Kaptai Lake for fishing.

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Elephant tramples man to death in Bandarban

BANDARBAN: A farmer was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Kaliganya in Tangkaboti union of Bandarban sadar upazila on Friday morning (Dec 1).

The deceased was identified as Md Kamaluddin, 52, hailed from the area.

Locals said some 3-4 wild elephants swoop out of the jungle while Kamaluddin was working on the field in the early morning and trampled him to death while he tried to flee out of fear.

Locals believed the elephant herd came out of the jungle in search for foods. 

Confirming the matter to Banglanews, Bandarban sadar police station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Golam Sarwar said, on information, police recovered the body from the spot.

However, elephant attack in several areas of Bandarban is not uncommon. Previously peoples have died as elephants suddenly came out of the wild into locality and attacked them.

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Man trampled to death by domesticated elephant in Moulvibazar

The elephant first knocked the old man down with its trunk and then crushed his head under its feet, leaving him dead on the spot.

An elderly man has been trampled to death by a domesticated elephant in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar.

The female elephant, named Lakkhi, became agitated and attacked Ishak Ali, a 75-year-old local, while it was moving past the Banglabazar area around 4pm on Sunday.

The elephant knocked the old man down with its trunk first, and then crushed his head under its foot, leaving him dead on the spot, according to witnesses.

The mahout driving the elephant was on his way back to the upazila headquarters from the neighbouring Kamalganj upazila.

Kulaura police station Officer-in-Charge Shamim Musa said the elephant had already been subdued and tied to a large tree with iron chains.

The body of the deceased will be sent to a hospital morgue for autopsy, and steps to take regarding the elephant will be decided after consultation with the Forest Department.

The elephant’s owner Mostofa Uddin, a resident of Kulaura Sadar upazila, could not be reached for comment by phone.

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2 Rohingya girls killed in elephant attack in Bangladesh

Two girls were killed and three others injured in an elephant attack in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Saturday.

The attack occurred late Friday in the Balukhali camp in the coastal Cox's Bazaar city, the UN migration agency in Bangladesh said on its Twitter account.

One of the girls aged five years died on the spot, while the other 13-year-old girl succumbed to her wounds at the hospital, the agency added.

Since Aug. 25, some 536,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages.

According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

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Wild Elephants Attack Rohingya Camp, Kill 4

The refugees have described widespread and indiscriminate violence and arsons.
"Every minute counts given the fragile condition they're arriving in", said Mahecic.
Jens Laerke, spokesman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that Rohingya in Rakhine now faced a "desperate choice whether to stay or go", not only due to the violence but also humanitarian needs. "They started firing on the village".

This new influx of refugees flee to join the over 536,000 Rohingya Muslims who have already escaped Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 25 when coordinated attacks were carried out by the Army on their settlements in Rakhine State.

"The military killed my brother".
"Twenty-one passengers were rescued, while many others are believed to have gone missing, " the officer said.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar since August 25, when the military launched a crackdown decried by the United Nations as "ethnic cleansing".

The Rohingya are fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state, where the United Nations has accused troops of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against them.

Thousands of new Rohingya Muslims have arrived in Bangladesh on Monday after fleeing severe hunger in Myanmar.

The UNHCR said it was working with the Bangladesh government to complete a new transit centre in Kutupalong, the largest of the refugee camps housing the Rohingya.

District forest official Mohammed Ali Kabir said a herd of elephants entered the Balukhali camp in Ukhiya town early on Saturday and trampled tents where several refugees were sleeping.

The camp would be the largest in the world and has raised concerns about the risks of heavily concentrating such a large number of vulnerable people, such as the spread of disease.

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Elephant kills and injures Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

A woman and a Rohingya child were killed and a man and his wife were injured with fractures and deep wounds from wild elephant while sleeping near the Balu Khali camp in Bangladesh.

Arakan news agency reported that a woman and a child were killed after they were stepped over by elephants, while another man has broken his pelvis bone and spine also his wife was injured.

Because of the influx of large numbers of refugees in Bangladesh, many of them are now trying to find shelters, which leads them to move towards the forests, which is full of wild animals and puts them at risk of being attacked by elephants and other animals.

Wild animals has exacerbated the tragedy of the Rohingya Muslims after fleeing Arakan, Myanmar, and reaching Bangladesh where difficult living conditions, lack of safe drinking water and food, and the risk of epidemics due to poor infrastructure.

Eleven people have been trampled on in recent days, especially during the night when people are asleep. Two men were attacked on September 19th, and a man and a child were trampled on September 25, all the vicitms were killed.

Asian elephants are among the most dangerous in Bangladesh. Many of them travel in the Chittagong region of the southeast, where there are a large number of refugees.

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Bangladesh elephant rampage highlights dangers for refugees: UNHCR

After fleeing flames and gunfire in Myanmar, Rohingya refugee Jane Alam thought danger was behind him in Bangladesh.

 But as he slept last night in a fragile shelter in a forested area near Kutupalong refugee camp, rampaging elephants crashed in on top of his family.

 The 18-year-old’s father and a seven-month-old baby were killed in the attack, which also injured seven of his relatives.

 Grazed on the cheek, neck and hip, he trekked barefoot up a hillside overlooking the makeshift camp this morning to bury them.

 “We thought we would be safe here,” he says, numb with disbelief, standing beside his father’s grave, marked with small bamboo stakes.

 A few paces away, the tiny body of his infant relative lies on the muddy ground, wrapped in a white cloth. A man scoops out her shallow grave with a farm tool as a group of men stand solemnly by.

 The deaths highlight one of the unexpected dangers facing refugees and the risks as humanitarian actors respond to the arrival in Bangladesh of at least 429,000 people who have fled the latest outbreak of violence that erupted in Myanmar on August 25, according to UNHCR report.

 As two formal refugee camps in Bangladesh are overwhelmed, thousands are seeking shelter where they can - some in an uninhabited forested area outside Kutupalong camp.

 “The area is currently completely wild, so the people who are settling-in where there is wildlife,” says Franklin Golay, a staff member for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, who is working to provide water, sanitation and shelter at the informal camp.

 “There are elephants roaming around that pose a threat,” he says.

 Asian elephants are considered a critically endangered species in Bangladesh, where conservationists estimate there are presently just 239 living in the wild.

Many roam in the Chittagong area in the southeast of the country, where the refugee influx is concentrated.

Local residents say the elephants are drawn to populated areas in the Monsoon season, when fruit including mangos and jackfruit ripen.

 Securing the rugged and partially forested area to mitigate the risk could be achieved with lights or electric fencing, Golay says.

 But for Alam’s grieving family, who fled persecution across the border in Myanmar, the attack is a stark reminder that their trials are not yet over.

 “We ran from danger, and we are still in a dangerous situation now,” says Ali Hussein, the dead man’s uncle. “This cannot be forgotten.”

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Elephant kills mahout in Moulovibazar

An elephant rider or mahout was trampled to death by his elephant in Marina Tea Garden in Kulaura upazila of Moulovibazar on Saturday noon (September 23).

The deceased was identified as Gonu Mia (mahout), 42, son of one late Siraj Mia, hailed from Monsora village of Kormoda union.

Family Sources said the incident took place at noon while Gonu Mia was heading for work in the garden. The elephant suddenly became anxious, therefore, charged him after grabbing him with its trunk and trampled him to death.

Later the body was recovered from the spot and taken to the factory of Marina Tea Garden.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kulaura Police Station confirmed the matter to Banglanews.

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Farmer killed in elephant attack

An elderly farmer was killed and his wife and son were injured in an attack by wild elephants at Haluahati village under Sribardi upazila in Sherpur Thursday night.

A herd of elephants, numbering 30-40, came down the hills around 11:00pm and damaged a paddy field in the area, said Md Rezaul Karim, officer-in-charge of Sribardi police.

When the locals tried to ward off the elephants, they attacked them, leaving Abdul Hye, 70, son of Tonu Mandal, dead on the spot and his wife and son Israfil Mia injured, the OC added.
The injured were admitted to Sribardi upazila health complex.

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A raging elephant ran over a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh and was shot dead

Rohingya man breathed his last breath under the feet of a raging elephant entering a populated area in the Kutupalong camps in Bangladesh.

Arakan News Agency reporter said the raging elephant had demolished more than 3 Rohingya refugee huts and the local residents had fled, but this old man fell under his feet and could not escape.

The footage shows the elderly man with a swollen face with multiple fracture of his leg and other sporadic injuries.

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Elderly Rohingya killed by wild elephant, 13 sheds smashed

One elderly Rohingya refugee was trampled by wild elephant and five others injured at Kutupalang Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar early Sunday.

The wild elephants are also damaged some 13 shedes at Kutupalong makeshift refugees camp under.
The deceased is identified as Mohammad Sarif, 60, son of Ali Johar, Block-E/3 of Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp.

Mohammad Abul Khair, officer-in-charge if Ukhiya police station, said one wild elephant attacked Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp at about 1:00am Sunday. All the refugees were asleep.

He said first the elephant attacked Sharif’s shed. Sharif’s family members managed to flee but he fell victim of elephant’s wrath and died on the spot.

Later, wild elephant was damaged some 13 sheds on the same block.

Some five rohingyas including women and children were injured when they were fleeing. They were given first aid at camp clinic.

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Elephant stampede kills tribal youth in Sherpur

A tribal young man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Choto Gazni in Jhenigati upazila on Saturday midnight.

The deceased was identified as Polodaf Sangma, 28, son of Ronen Kubi of the area.

Locals said a herd of marauding elephants invaded Choto Gazni village in the upazila at about 12:00 am.

Villagers made an attempt to drive away the elephants by torching lamps.

At one stage, a wild elephant pounced on Polodaf and crushed him to death by trampling.

Later locals recovered the body.

Jhenigati Rangtia Range Officer M Kabir Hossain of the Forest Department confirmed the incident.

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Elephant kills navy man in Kaptai

A member of Bangladesh Navy was killed in a wild elephant attack in Navy road area under Kaptai upazila of Rangamati district on Monday night, reports UNB. The deceased, Shahadat Hossain, 40, was posted at BNS Shaheed Moazzem Training Base Camp in the district. Dildar Hossain, chairman of Kaptai Upazila Parishad, said a wild elephant, all of a sudden, swooped on Shahadat around 10:30 pm while he was returning his residence adjacent to the office through the road. He died on the spot. On information, the members of Bangladesh Navy recovered the body. On May 30, this year, an indigenous woman was also killed by an elephant attack on the same spot.

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