Safety at stake

Siliguri, Nov. 19: Foresters are trying to find out who had opened fire at two elephants, from whose bodies pellets were recovered in Gorumara National Park in the past five days, and where.

While a male elephant without tusk was found dead on November 16, another found limping was tranquillised and treated yesterday. Both the animals had suffered gunshots and pellets were retrieved from their bodies.

The officers said since both the elephants had been male ones without tusks, the possibility of poachers targeting them was remote.

Some guards The Telegraph spoke to said the pachyderms might have been fired upon when they had reached the border with Nepal or human habitats.

S.B. Patel, the chief conservator of forests (wildlife), north Bengal said it was indeed a cause of concern that elephants were being targeted by humans. He added that the department was seeking the help of police to know forensic experts’ opinion on the kind of gun that had been used to fire at the elephants. “Along with the police, we are also conducting an inquiry and have stepped up vigil in the forests.”

Patel and some other officers said as poachers active in the forest had been rehabilitated and given alternative source of income, the possibility of elephants being shot at by the hunters was remote.

An officer, who did not want to be quoted, said the elephants might have been hit with the pellets while they had been to the India-Nepal border earlier this year. “As the people in the border areas of Nepal rampantly use such pellet guns to stop the aggressive pachyderms from entering their villages, such a possibility is there,” said the officer.

“In villages on the fringes of our reserve forests also, a section of people use such guns, but they usually position themselves above trees or tong ghars (makeshift huts of several metres high), raised to monitor elephants’ movements). In that case, elephants should have been hit above head or near ears and not on the foot or trunk.”

The two elephants had been shot at legs or trunk.

Representatives of wildlife NGOs asked the foresters to trace the origin of the pellets. “Death and injury of elephants because of pellets is a new aspect which we have noticed in the past few days,” said Animesh Bose, a member of the state board for wildlife. “As human involvement has been confirmed, it is imperative that the foresters, may be with the help of police and other agencies, find out who had opened fire at and where.”

He suspects that there are more elephants with pellet wounds roaming in the reserve forests.