Asian elephant conservation in the Wild: the Indian scenario

A Conversation with Dr Bibhuti Lahkar –Ecologist and Conservationist

---

By Anubhuti Deka

Assam has over 5700 Asian elephants as of 2021, the second highest in the country. We have seen people offering fruits and folding hands as a gesture of respect to elephants passing through roads countless times. However, there is a catch. We only do so to captive, domesticated elephants. So, what do we do when we face a wild elephant? People living in human-elephant conflict areas say they try to turn to safety.

An interview with Dr Bibhuti Lahkar, who works for Manas National Park and heads the Elephant conservation department of Aaranyak gives an insight into the status of the

conservation of Asian Elephants. Aranyak is a non-profit organisation that has been working for animal welfare for the last twenty years. They use scientific tools for species conservation.

He says that the elephant welfare scenario in the state is alarming. Elephants were tagged the national heritage animal in 2010, but there remain loopholes in the law that forgive improper treatment of the animal. Habitat fragmentation and blockade of corridors lead to frequent conflicts. Humans tend to resort to cruel means to keep elephants away or to shoo them –light fires, poke them with spears, injure them by some other means.

Image credit: freepik.com

Elephants are safe in protected areas but are long-ranging animals. They feed on hundreds of litres of water and 300 kilograms of food per day. They need to keep moving to meet the food requirements. In the process, they come in contact with humans because of encroachment. Every year, we lose about 70-80 individuals on both sides because of the conflicts.

Protection promised by law to elephant corridors has not witnessed proper implementation. Through such loopholes in the law, people are able to get away with blocking elephant corridors near protected areas in the name of tourism businesses like restaurants and lodges. The blockade of the corridor has resulted in elephants moving to newer areas, for example, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Even in Assam, not every area witnesses a wild herd of elephants regularly. When elephants move to a new area because of habitat loss, the humans there cannot deal with them because of inexperience, leading to panic and chaos. National Green Tribunal has barred NRL from expanding a township in an elephant corridor. Many PILs are filed to take down dhabas in elephant corridors and related causes, with success, but they still have lenient implementation.

“For the past two years, I’ve been doing research on how people put illegal electric wires on paddy fields to keep elephants away. Electrocution is one of the major concerns surrounding the safety of elephants. People working in paddy fields are poor; they’ll tolerate elephants destroying their harvest once or twice. However, they can’t help but retaliate after that. Had the governments provided enough compensation on time to those suffering the losses, they could let the elephants eat as well.”

“Only forest departments and NGOs cannot protect elephants. APDCL are insulating wires in cities. They should do the same in wild and rural areas too as not only elephants but many other wildlife species are losing life frequently because of electrocution. Risk areas should be identified and the wires must be insulated.

“Radio collaring has been extensively used in African countries to study elephant movement and ecology. It also helps in setting early warning in human-elephant conflicts in case, satellite or GPS collars are used. It is difficult to track elephants manually, especially at night time. Assam has just started using radio collars whereas, in West Bengal, it began twenty years ago. We only have about 5 elephants radio-collared. I feel that it should be done for all elephants in the conflict areas.”

The reason for the late start to radio collaring is unclear. The situation now seems to be grim as in the last month alone, there have been many conflicts and we have also lost human lives in addition to elephants and ecology. However, with more people the likes of Dr Bibhuti Lahkar and a few others, we are moving ahead steadily.