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Vikram Nanjappa
12-06-2009, 08:49 PM
It did not know where to post this but I finally decided that this was basically an issue of conservation. Please read the second half of this link

http://gaur36.livejournal.com/99252.html

Aditya Panda
12-06-2009, 10:12 PM
Don't worry Vikram, this is the right forum for this ghastly story. I think this needs much wider coverage. The national conservation community needs to come down loudly and heavily on this.

Regards,
Aditya

AB Apana
15-06-2009, 07:26 AM
Vikram,

I heard about this on my recent trip to Coorg. What can we do about this?

Apana

Vishal Menon
30-07-2009, 08:03 PM
Interesting...my 2 cents...
Capturing any Wild animal the size of an Elephant and "Domesticating" them is traumatic and unfortunately there is no "Humane" method of doing so.
Rope burns, deep lacerations, capture myopathy and about a lifetime of pure, physical and emotional torture are all just par for the course.
the question really is about our options in dealing with elephantine Crop-raiders


a) Do nothing and let the crop raiding elephants be dealt with by the farmers who in turn sentence them to die of suppurating sores and hematomas caused by buck shot, lingering death due to arsenic or cyanide poisoning, electrocution, bombing, mining....the methods are as varied as they are ingenious.

b)Translocation: this method is as inhumane and traumatic as vikrams pictures testify...and of course it does successfully translocate the behavioral problem of crop-raiding along with the animal.

c) Domestication :Inspite of what vikrams photos indicate... the Kraal method of domestication is... believe it or not...preferable to several other methods prevalent in NE india and SE asia...domestication a process inseparable from torture, is the ONLY way other than 'Protected Contact Elephant management' to control an elephant and break it into submitting to human will. ( All the elephants,including the tiny percentage of captive born elephants that tourists/photographers ride on in our national parks were treated in this offensive manner before they were declared worthy of hauling our behinds.)

d) Cull Non viable populations in fragmented forests or Cull habitual crop raiders... thank you, lord Ganesh...at least not in India... anytime soon.

e) Isolate Non viable populations/ habitual offenders in managed habitats: Spend the millions of dollars required to keep problem wild elephants in fenced and trenched enclosures of several thousand acres. ( Crude analogy- the case of Rhinos in Dudhwa)

Vikram : your pictures are certainly distressing.... and no doubt will stir up a minor strom in the conservation teacup... No offence meant but there are several bleeding heart NGO's out there who would love to leverage these pictures so they can get some moolah to fund them. (Mike Pandey's documentary on this subject did raise a lot of questions and also made some organizations/people very rich. Am not sure what it did for the elephants of the area though.
...and lets not forget the hordes of well meaning but ill-informed people who will be quick to vilify the forest dept staff for blatant animal abuse.
Before we point fingers at the mahouts/forest staff who heap suffering on these beasts, lets reflect on the time we sat on these unfortunate beasts to view the infamous tiger shows..where do you think those elephants came from?
In my view... its the endgame for the Wild Asian elephant, we only have the ability to prolong the imminent.. .of course...we can always visit their poor domesticated cousins at Dubare.

Sabyasachi Patra
31-07-2009, 03:14 PM
It is unfortunate that elephants suffer such a fate at the hand of man and we continue to justify these methods. Elephant is an intelligent creature, and amount of trauma an elephant undergoes is unbelievable.

The question is why do we need to capture elephants and "domesticate" them?

In early years, elephants were used for logging operations. With the availbility of modern technology, the role of elephants in logging has become redundant. Transporting tourists on elephant back, is a frivolous reason for capturing them. The other place where elephants are used today - in the temples - doesn't require trapping of elephants. The treatment meted to this temple elephants is inhuman and this practice should be stopped.

Crop raiding is a symptom of a greater malaise. Unfortunately, we never try to resolve the root cause of an issue, but we react to the symptoms.

It has been forgotten that we are intruders into their territory. The elephants now don't have any inviolate spaces left to themselves. Often, people are given land rights and resettled in places which are right in the elephant territory or migration corridors. People start clearing those forests and start cultivation. It is quiet natural that elephants will engage in crop raiding as will other herbivores to supplement its diet with the protein rich crops.

Most of the times the resettled people have no knowledge of elephants or wildlife, and they start growing crops like banana etc which is liked by elephants. That increases the conflict. We hardly try to remove the cause. Our policy planners and bureaucrats, most often are not aware of the issues. Infact the district collector in an area of Human -Elephant Conflict, blamed the people for not concertizing the area soon. His logic is, cut all the trees and build houses, so that elephants will have no food to eat and hence won’t come there.

There are lot of NGOs who are solar fencing entire villages. The idea is to keep out elephants. Again, it is unfortunate because that means the problem is being shifted, not resolved.

I agree that this is a minor storm in the conservation teacup. That is because, conservation in India has been limited to a few and is seen as elitist. The movement needs to be broadbased. There are people would want to benefit out of any calamity. NGOs are not immune to this. Infact, there are lot of NGOs whose only purpose is to make money. Even, some of our big NGOs who are engaged in wildlife conservation, are more interested in making money. However, I agree with Mike Pandey or anyone, who brings to light an issue. Not everyone can taken an issue and see its logical conclusion. That doesn't mean, people should not raise an issue. Ofcourse, people raising an issue, should do follow ups so that the issue doesn’t die after the initial round of discussions.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

AB Apana
31-07-2009, 05:28 PM
I see the point made by Vishal, but agree with Sabyasachi about the encroachment on forest land and elephant corridors. We need to address the root cause of the problem.

Do I really think that we will address the root cause of the problem? No, people = votes. Will elephants continue to suffer? Yes.

Apana