Corridor block compounds man-elephant conflict on border

GUWAHATI: Disruption of traditional elephant corridors and decreasing access to food has compounded the conflict between humans and elephants in areas along and near the Assam-Meghalaya border, forest officials here say.
“A majority of the wild elephants who cross over to the Goalpara forest division near the border are originally from Garo Hills, and with the traditional/regular routes taken by the herds blocked of late because of erection of electric fences in Garo Hills, the elephants have literally no option but to take a detour,” a senior official from the Assam forest department told The Shillong Times on Saturday.
On Friday, a herd of 28 wild elephants had reportedly damaged several houses and destroyed crops in the Dhekiabari area in Krishnai (Goalpara district) near the Assam-Meghalaya border. However, there was no casualty or injury caused to any person.
Forest sources say that unlike Rani and Garbhanga under Guwahati wildlife division, which has a large forest area facilitating better movement of elephant herds, the reserved forests in Goalpara division are smaller and scattered.
“The elephants in these 30 to 40 scattered reserved forests earlier used to migrate to Bangladesh but now they are confined to the border areas of Assam and Meghalaya. Also, most villagers in Goalpara district are taking up large-scale rubber plantation and hence access to food for these marauding elephants has become limited. So, these herds resort to destroying houses and granaries in search of food,” the forest official said.
The herds, he said, generally raid human habitation in search of food during winter. “But of late, there is an apparent deviation and we are noticing a growing trend of elephants raiding human habitation in other seasons as well,” the forest official said.
According to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (year ended March 31, 2017), close to 10,000 cases of human-elephant conflicts have been reported from Meghalaya in the past five years.
Twenty five persons died, 22 injured and about 4,009 hectares of cropland damaged in such conflicts between 2012 and 2017.
Meghalaya is home to around 1,800 elephants with Garo Hills region alone (including Balpakram National Park), accounting for about two-thirds of such conflicts, the CAG report said.


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Elephant calf rescued after falling into well in Dhenkanal

Kamakhyanagar: In the latest incident of elephant incursion in Dhenkanal district, a pachyderm calf fell into an abandoned well in Jamujhara village under Kamakhyanagar West Forest Range last night. Forest officials rescued the baby elephant after two hours of Herculean effort.

The incident came to light this morning after some locals heard elephant trumpets and found the calf inside the well after reaching near it. They immediately called up forest officials and informed the matter.

The baby elephant could have been separated from an elephant herd which was seen near the village last night and later disappeared into the forest, said a local. The calf appears to be aged around 2 years, he added.

As per the final report the calf has been rescued from the well with the help of forest officials. It was later released into the Pandua forest after necessary treatment.


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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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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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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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80 Meghalaya Elephants Holed Up In B’desh

SHILLONG: As many as 80 Meghalaya elephants are holed up in Bangladesh and unable to come back.

A state forest official said the elephants landed up in Northern part of Bangladesh after breaking the border fencing in the Garo Hills-Bangladesh sector.

The elephants are not being able to come back since many habitations have come up in and around the routes earlier taken by the elephants in the Bangladesh border.

“When the time came for them to return to Meghalaya, the new human habitations prevented the easy passage of the elephants,” the official added.

According to the official, the Bangladeshi residents and forest officials had noticed the elephant herd and concluded that they were from Meghalaya as there were no wild elephants belonging to Bangladesh in the northern part of the country.

Since the elephants cannot come back to Meghalaya, the only way is to protect them.
It was in this context that on July 27, the second Indo-Bangladesh dialogue for trans-boundary conservation of elephants was held in Shillong.

The purpose of the meeting was to sign a protocol to allow animals to move freely.
“Unlike human beings, animals need unrestricted movement across the border and the protocol by both the countries will ensure safety of the animals as they are vulnerable along the border,” the forest official added.

According to the official, India has already ratified the protocol and a similar response from Bangladesh is awaited.

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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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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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Youth killed in Ctg elephant attack

A young man was killed and two others injured as a herd wild elephants attacked them in Bajalia area of Satkania upazila on Thursday morning.

The deceased was identified as Md Hossain, 28.

Locals said that a herd of wild elephants entered Bajalia area adjacent to a reserved forest a week ago but the Forest Department didn't take any step to drive them away.

When a group of villagers tried to drive them away in the morning, the elephants swooped on them, leaving Hossain dead on the spot and two others-Abul Kalam, 32, and Monzur, 18, injured.

Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Satkania Police Station, said police have been sent to the area.

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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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Farmer dies in Sherpur elephant attack

A farmer was killed while his wife and their son were injured in an attack by elephants at Balijuri Christian Para of Sribardi upazila in Sherpur early Sunday. The deceased was identified as Veruna Mrong, 40, of Balijuri Christian Para.

Quoting locals, Sribardi upazila nirbahi officer Khaleda Nasrin said: ‘A herd of elephants numbering 40-50 went down the hills to the locality in search of food early Sunday.’ ‘When locals tried to ward off the elephants, the mammoths attacked the house of Veruna, leaving the farmer, his wife and son injured.’ Severely injured Veruna died on his way to Sherpur District Hospital, added the UNO.

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