Gunning down of Laden inside an Assam forest area has evoked sharp reaction.
No, it was not Osama Bin Laden, the most wanted terrorist on the planet, but a wild elephant proclaimed rogue by the Assam Wildlife and Forest Department.
Wildlife protection groups, including the state chapter of WWF-India are up in arms against the killing of the 'rogue' elephant, as they believe that such a drastic step will hardly help solve the raging man-elephant conflict in Assam.
The non profit organisations are of the opinion that instead of opting for short-term measure like eliminating rogue elephants, the approach of the state wildlife department should have been to address the root of the problem -- to check rampant destruction of elephant habitats and migration corridors by encroachers.
The gunned-down wild elephant was a member of a herd that had been on rampage in northern Assam districts of Sonitpur and North Lakhimpur since October. It was declared rogue by the state wildlife department after it allegedly killed four members of a family, including two infants at village near Jamugurihaat on November 19 last.
The wildlife department contracted a licensed hunter to kill the rogue elephant. The pachyderm was finally shot dead by the hunter on December 16 last inside Behali Reserve Forest area in Sonitpur district. But the killing of Laden by the terror-stricken villagers has sparked loud protests in the state.
Several frontline NGOs, including Nature's Bonyapran, Aaranyak, WWF-India, Dolphin Foundation, CEE-NE, Ecosystems India and Nature's Beckon, have aired that such system of proclaiming an elephant rogue and killing it would hardly help solving the man-elephant
The NGOs have questioned the method applied by the contracted hunter to pinpoint the rogue Laden before shooting it doubt. The NGOs are of the view that even if it was rogue, the pachyderm should have been have been captured and trained.
However, a highly placed source the state wildlife department maintained that the department was hardly left with an alternative than to kill the elephant.
"It is not possible to domesticate and train a full grown 10-feet tall rogue wild elephant after capturing it by using tranquilizer gun. Moreover, if the rogue elephant was left at large, the affected villagers would have killed it using poison and in that case there was every possibility of other innocent wild elephants getting killed," the source said.
Total 13 persons were killed by wild elephants under Sonitpur Forest Division in northern Assam till date since February this year. On the other hand, at least 10 wild elephants were killed during the last two months in areas under Behali and Gohpur legislative assembly constituencies in the state.
According to statistics available with the state wildlife department, 239 persons were killed by wild elephants in the state during the last five years while people killed 269 elephants.
The problem has become an elephantine one for the state wildlife department and wildlife protection act does not allow the personnel of the department to get harsh with the wild pachyderm creating trouble in human habitats. The elephants cannot be captured sans permission from the government of India due to prohibition imposed under the Wildlife Protection Act.
