Villagers fight elephants with poison in Assam

Villagers fight elephants with poison in Assam
Story/place-Assam.
Oct 14, 2010

GUWAHATI: A growing tussle for land between farmers and wild elephants in northeast India has resulted in the suspected poisoning deaths of four elephants in the past week, officials said Friday.

Officials in Assam believe the four animals were deliberately poisoned by lacing home-made alcohol with toxic chemicals.

"We have taken the matter very seriously and already an enquiry by the chief wildlife warden is on and strict action will be taken against anyone found guilty of poisoning the elephants," state forest minister Rockybul Hussain said.

Two calves died at the Diffolu tea garden, close to the Kaziranga National Park, about 220 kilometre (140 miles) east of Assam's main city of Guwahati on October 7.

Two days later a pregnant elephant was found dead on the periphery of the park, followed by an adult tusker just outside the sanctuary.

"In almost all the cases, the tongues had turned blue indicating that the elephants could have consumed something toxic," a veterinarian who examined the bodies said.

Hussain said preliminary investigations suggested locals in the Diffolu tea garden might be responsible.

In 2009, four elephants were poisoned and killed by angry villagers after going on the rampage in local paddy fields and villages, killing at least two people.

Wildlife officials said the locals had mixed the poison with home-made liquor that is brewed from fermented rice and often sought out by elephants.

Experts say shrinking forest cover and human encroachment on elephant corridors have forced the animals to stray out of their natural jungle habitat into human settlement areas.

"More often than not, they are attracted by the smell of locally brewed rice beer," said Kushal Konwar Sharma, a noted elephant expert and a teacher at the College of Veterinary Science in Guwahati.

A recent report by the wildlife department said wild Asiatic elephants have killed about 279 people in Assam since 2001, while 289 elephants have died during the period, many of them victims of human retaliation.

The last elephant census carried out by wildlife authorities recorded about 5,500 elephants in Assam, more than half of India's count of 10,000.

source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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