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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Rohingya influx deals blow to Bangladesh’s wild elephant population

As many as five wild elephants have been killed between November 21 last year and January 22

The influx of the displaced Rohingya has a dealt a double blow to the wild elephant population inhabiting Bangladesh’s Chittagong region.

Shortage of food and destruction of habitat forced the elephants to venture out, leading to clashes with humans. Five elephants have been killed between November 21 last year and January 22 – three of them from electrocution and landmine-related injuries.

Conservationists say elephants are known as ecosystem’s engineers and gardeners since they play a vital role in forest enhancement by disbursing seeds and creating an environment for germination.

Elephant dung plays a crucial role in nutrient cycling by providing nutrients to the soil that is ultimately used by the flora. It is also a good source of food for many insects, experts say.

Since the latest spell of Rohingya crisis, Myanmar security forces planted landmines and erected barbed wire fence along its border with Bangladesh, obstructing the trans-boundary migratory routes of the giant mammals.

On the other hand, shelters set up for the Rohingya – which led to the destruction of 4,000 acres of forestland – also blocked the wild elephants’ routes. The Rohingya are destroying forest resources to meet their daily demand of firewood of 800 tons.

Obstruction of the passages and destruction of forests have forced elephants to seek alternative routes and triggered crop-raiding incidents.

Nearly 690,000 Rohingya escaped to Bangladesh after Myanmar security forces launched a brutal ‘clearance operation’ targeting the minority in last August. Another 100,000 Rohingya had crossed the border earlier following violence in the Rakhine state in October 2016.

The presence of the huge number of people and encroachment of forests has made the wild elephants more desperate in their search for food and water. Between September 17 last year and January 19, seven Rohingya were trampled to death by wild elephants in Ukhiya and Balukhali refugee camps.

But as many as five wild elephants have also been killed in the last three months.



“Unnatural death of an adult female elephant is a great loss since she is a repository of traditional knowledge, including the migration routes,” wildlife biologist Dr AHM Raihan Sarker told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said the wild elephants turned violent as they were pushed to the limit.

“The trans-boundary corridors (Balukhali-Naikhyangchhari-Myanmar and Balukhali-Ghundhum-Myanmar) turned dangerous for the migratory elephants as Myanmar security forces planted landmines along the borders,” he noted.

“Besides, routes used by the elephant have been blocked to make space for refugee camps,” he added.

Elephants consume equivalent to 1.5% of their body weight every day and usually the quantity of fodder ranges from 135kg to 300kg for adults, the expert said. The wild elephants invade crop fields as they are an easy source of food.

“It is natural for the farmers to protect their crop from raiding animals. But it is the responsibility of the forest officials to keep a strict vigil to avert any casualty of wild animals,” he said.

He suggested adopting an action plan urgently to save the mammals.

Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmed, a former country representative of the IUCN Bangladesh, said elephants were among protected animals under the Wildlife Act, adding that the forest department should investigate the repeated incidents of death of the wild elephants.

Eminent wildlife conservationist Reza Khan cited a study which showed that the elephants naturally browse on at least 50 species of plants and eat fruits of over a dozen trees.

Deforestation and changing patterns in forestry created a severe shortage of food for elephants and other animals.

He said many people had encroached on forest lands and occupied routes used by elephants. The illegal land occupiers sometimes use electrical fences and poison-laced food items to deter elephants raiding their crops or dwellings, the former IUCN member said, demanding punishment for the offenders.

“Rampaging wild elephants entering human settlements should be tranquillized and moved to remote areas where there are existing elephant populations,” Khan told the Dhaka Tribune. “To reduce human-elephant conflicts, the government must ensure sufficient supply of food and water inside the forest.”

When contacted, Md Jahidul Kabir, conservator of forests (wildlife and nature conservation circle), said they were going to undertake a special project in consultation with the IUCN.

Wildlife biologist Raihan said wild elephants played a significant role in protecting natural forests, adding: “The conservation of elephants should be a mandatory task to ensure their survivability.”

Dr Anisuzzaman Khan, biodiversity researcher and chief adviser to Isabela Foundation, said, “People all over the world keep a close eye on the state of tigers and elephants. Infrastructural development of a country becomes meaningless and the country suffers from an image deficit if tigers or elephants meet unnatural death.”

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Settlements on trails deepen human-elephant conflicts

Ever expanding human settlement on trails is fragmenting and destroying the habitats of elephants, the already threatened species in the country, thus causing human-elephant casualties.

In the last couple of months, the tolls of human and elephant casualties increased amid a large part of elephant ranges being allocated as shelters to the Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar as well as brought under crop cultivation projects.

Department of Forests officials told New Age that at least 12 people were trampled to death by elephant herds and eight elephants were found dead in Cox’s Bazar, Sherpur, Bandarban and Moulavibazar this year.

Of the casualties, eight people were killed by elephants in September and October while five wild elephants were killed in the two months.

At least six Rohingyas, temporarily camped at forestlands at Kutupalang and Balukhali of Ukhia under Cox’s Bazar, were reportedly trampled by wild elephants in September and October so far.
Besides the areas, earlier designated for the Rohingya people at Kutupalang, forest officials said, the government allocated an additional 3,000 acres of forestlands at Ukhia, entirely on the elephant trails, for sheltering over six lakh newly-arrived Rohingyas.

Wildlife and Nature Conservation Circle conservator Jahidul Kabir observes that elephant is now the most endangered species as their habitats have been destroyed by human intervention.

He added that three elephants were killed during the recent landslides in the Chittagong division while another one was found dead with wounds besides the River Naf in Cox’s Bazar.

In the last two months, at least three people were trampled by wild elephants along the Bangladesh-India border in Sherpur as local people tried to resist stray elephants from destroying crops.

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Elephant electrocution along border on the rise

The incidents of wild elephants getting electrocuted is on the rise along Bangladesh's border since farmers have started installing generators and electric wires to protect their paddy fields from attacks by elephants coming from across the border.

Official sources say two wild elephants were found dead in the frontier area of Sreebardi upazila in Sherpur in this month (Oct 6 and 8). Both the elephants died after they came in contact with live wire placed on an Aman paddy field to protect it from animals. On August 13, another elephant was found dead at Haluahati village in Sreebardi upazila.

"The incidents of wild elephants falling victims to electrocution has recently marked a rise as farmers are increasingly installing generators and electric wires in their paddy fields to save their crops from elephants that come from Indian side," said Jahidul Kabir, forest conservator of Wildlife and Nature Conservation here, told UNB. He said three elephants were electrocuted recently in Sherpur while another was killed in 2015.

Asian elephants are said to be migratory animals as they can cover a considerable distance within a short period of time. In forests, elephant herds follow a well-defined migration route. The presence of traffic on roads, construction of steep retaining walls, barbed-wire fences, and the presence of human population along the corridor and routes can limit the migration of elephants that ultimately hinders their genetic diversity.Jahidul Kabir said when trans-boundary elephants enter Bangladesh's territory facing food crisis in India. "Once in Bangladesh territory, they find no suitable habitat here either."

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Elephant herd runs to greet orphaned baby elephant

Cameras captured the heartwarming moment when a herd of elephants ran to welcome their newest member – an orphaned baby elephant – Dok Geaw.

A shows a herd of elephants rushing to greet the one year and nine months old Dok Geaw who was orphaned when he was just four months old. Dok Geaw was welcomed into his new family with a lot of love.

As a rescue elephant, Dok Geaw was treated at the elephant conservation centre before being brought to the park. He is now getting used to his new life and having a good time with his herd. He is enjoying his first day in his shelter at the park, according to a global media report.

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Banished from their homes

Man-animal conflicts are on the rise across the country, because wild animals are being increasingly pushed out of their habitat by human activities. Their departure has exposed our forests and water sources to destruction

In 1967, a wild tigress from the Chandaka forest on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar walked into the Nandankanan Zoo nearby, lured by the calls of a male tiger in one of the moated exhibits. It jumped in to join him, surely unaware that there was no way out. The tigress — later named ‘Kanan’ — lived on in the zoo. Predictably the Press went to town about “the wild tigress who voluntarily chose captivity.” For the State forest department it was a bonanza, for the then fledgling zoo got a new ‘free’ tiger. Few thought of the only, lonely tigress who had simply responded to the call of her own. She was the last wild tiger in Chandaka.

The forest, however, continued to be a refuge for elephants, leopards, sloth bears, jungle cats and a host of bird species, and was declared the Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary in 1982, intended to protect elephants and serve as Bhubaneswar’s ‘green lungs’. Over time, the dynamics of the city and the forest have changed. Bhubaneswar today bears little semblance to the quaint capital built in 1948. In its vision for the coming decades, Odisha aims at transforming the Chaudwar-Cuttack-Bhubaneswar-Khurda urban conglomerate into a metropolis that will replace Kolkata as the ‘hub of the east’.

Going full throttle to achieve this vision, the region has seen rapid, and ill-planned expansion which has isolated Chandaka Bharatpur forest, a part of the Chandka sanctuary juts into the city and has practically been severed from the rest of the sanctuary. Gated colonies, large institutes (Bhubaneswar has over a 100 engineering colleges, plus a number of management and other institutes) and tech-parks have come up in between, leaving a few elephants trapped permanently inside the 10 sq km degraded, weed-ridden scrub that is Bharatpur today.

Until 2002, Chandaka had over 80 elephants living in its 190 sq km area. Conflict was a perennial problem in the villages around, and became more severe as the city grew. The relatively new suburbs of the city sometimes had their residents jolted out of prime time TV when a herd of elephants would show up on their driveways. Crackers, crowds, mobs and mayhem invariably followed — sometimes with tragic results. The elephants had nowhere to go; they got little sanctuary in Chandaka. Overgrazed by cattle and exploited for firewood, the habitat itself was turning increasingly unsuitable, even hostile. Villagers had encroached, and when the elephants raided their fields, they were riddled with shotgun pellets. Wounded, over time some elephants died a slow, painful death.

In 2002-2003, a herd of over 20 elephants migrated out of Chandaka in a southerly direction — a route never in history known to be used by them. They crossed the busy four-lane NH-5 just outside Bhubaneswar and made for Barunei Hill, moving onwards, traversing villages, cultivation, the Tangi-Ranpur ‘Mal’ forests and into the relatively well protected Barbara reserve forest — traditionally not known to harbour elephants.

When Chandaka deteriorated further, especially post 2006, more herds followed. The desperate, bewildered elephants were on the run, hounded by mobs and harassed by terrified villagers. Some reached Chilika, a few fell by the wayside, succumbing to sheer exhaustion. Reportedly, only about 20 of the original 85-odd elephants now survive in Chandaka. The ‘emigrants’ are now constantly on the run — from one conflict situation to another, across southern-coastal Odisha, where neither can the forests support them, nor are the farmers used to elephants.

Conflict has intensified to such an extent in southern coastal Odisha now, that the State’s forest department has deployed almost its entire force of captive elephants as ‘kunkis’ in the region to contain the conflict. The elephants are running out of space, and out of time. Yet, there is hope.

Two years ago, a herd of elephants from across the Mahanadi came to Chandaka — and went back again after a short stay, proving that old corridors linking Chandaka to the gene pool of the Mahanadi Elephant Reserve, which also includes the Satkosia Tiger Reserve, through the Athgarh and to the Kapilas Hills, still exist. Since then, a few more herds have begun using this route. If Chandaka is protected, its habitat restored and the villages inside it rehabilitated, it can once again be a safe haven for elephants.

It is equally critical to protect the fragile links of this forest to Athgarh and Kapilas for the long-term persistence of elephants in this landscape, and to address and minimise conflict. Interestingly, elephants from the Athgarh-Chandaka region were considered the most ‘robust and strong’, and were much coveted as war elephants.

Saving Chandka and elephant corridors requires a consistent effort, commitment and a tremendous amount of will, but surely in a country where the elephant is worshipped as Ganesha, and in a State where elephants are deeply rooted in ancient culture, this should be the priority.

The decay of Chandaka and its wildlife is a reflection of the larger picture of our ‘protected areas’, particularly those which have the misfortune of neighbouring a city. Hardwar and Rishikesh are crowding Rajaji National Park, which must also bear the brunt of the ancillary development of the capital, Dehradun, a mere 35km away. Dachigaam National Park is a jewel on the outskirts of Srinagar, with the expanding capital pressing in. Conflict with black bears has reached worrying proportions —  a bear was burnt alive when it ventured into human habitation in 2006. Ratapani, once the hunting grounds of the nawabs of Bhopal, is fragmented by highways, railway lines and the swell of the capital.

Reports of a tigress with cubs in outskirts of Bhopal have been doing the rounds since last year. Gurgaon has bulldozed the forests of the ancient Aravallis — and with it has gone the unique biodiversity that these hills supported. Water, a gift of the Aravallis, has vanished too. The Aravalli hills are a critical groundwater recharge system in this otherwise arid north-west of India and contain the catchment of Damdama, the last remaining major perennial lake here.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had wondered on August 1, in response to a PIL, “Where will the next generation go if we extract the complete groundwater?” And therein lies the logic of saving Chandaka and its elephants, Dachigaam and its hangul, Ratapani (and Rajaji) and its tigers.

Not only does wilderness provide us precious intangible values, but it is the key to our water and ecological security, and to also our future.

(The author is a member, National Board of Wildlife.)

Number of elephants decreasing fast

By Sheikh Arif Bulbon, The New Nation
February 25, 2007
The number of elephants is alarmingly decreasing in forests of Cox's Bazar and Teknaf, where once one-third of elephant population of the country was found, due to undue pressure of deforestation and increasing of human activities in forest areas.
According to the last census of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), there are only 30 to 35 elephants in forests of Teknaf and Southern Cox's Bazar regions.
The Teknaf Game Reserve is one of the five protected areas where the Forest Department has initiated the co-management approach situated at Damdamia in the south of Cox's Bazar. The Game Reserve provides a vital sanctuary for a wide variety of wildlife, especially elephants. It was established in 1983 under the Wildlife Act of 1973. It was previously Teknaf Reserve Forest. It includes an area formerly referred to as the Thainkhali Game Reserve (7,770 hectres). Currently it covers an area of 11,615 hectres, making it the third largest protected areas after Sunderbans and Pablakhali Wildlife Sanctuaries. Day to day management activities by the Nishorgo Support Programme (NSP), a protected area management programme, are carried out from two ranges namely Teknaf and Whykong.
Raquibul Amin of IUCN said, "During 1980s the Reserve contained about half of the mammals and one-third (101) of the elephant population of the country. Many wildlife have already been on the verge of extinction and elephants are in high risk of extinction not only in Bangladesh as well as in Asia due to the loss of forest cover, loss of corridor and the forest fragmentation."

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