Guwahati: Dia Mirza, Bollywood actor and brand ambassador of Wildlife Trust of India, called for conservation of elephants at she flagged off Gaj Yatra at Tura in Meghalaya on Monday.
Gaj Yatra is a nationwide campaign launched by the Wildlife Trust of India in collaboration with Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change in New Delhi on August 12, World Elephant Day, last year. In the Northeast, it was launched on Monday. The campaign aims to protect the elephant and its habitat.
Dia said growing resource needs of the human population has led to destruction and fragmentation of elephant habitats across the country, depleting the area available for elephants to roam and causing loss of their traditional migratory paths. "Therefore, the need for conservation of elephants and their habitat arises," she said.
Elephants, she said, are considered to be gardeners of the forest because when they move, they rejuvenate nature.
Elephants are known as gardeners because they eat plants and fruit and spread the seeds through their dung. They often carry seeds a long way, breaking them down in their gut and depositing it in a pile of dung, thus increasing the likelihood of germination. They thus fulfil a vital role in sustaining the forest.
Dia also informed that elephants are matriarchal like Garo society as the herd is led by a female elephant. She said she hopes to come back to Garo hills to celebrate the success of Gaj Yatra.
Meghalaya has 1,754 elephants with an overall density of 0.16 elephants per square kilometre. Much of the elephant habitat area in the state is under community forest.
Meghalaya home minister James P.K. Sangma and South Tura MLA Agatha K. Sangma flagged off Gaj Yatra 2018 along with Dia in Garo hills. Several other dignitaries graced the event held in the evening at the Social Mobilisation Experimentation and Learning Centre, Dakopgre, Tura. The programme was organised by the Wildlife Trust of India in collaboration with the state forest department.
The four-day Gaj Yatra will move the elephant mascot to Williamnagar on Tuesday via Siju and Rongara and will culminate at Baghmara in South Garo Hills district on May 31.
James appealed to the nokmas, custodians of the land, to support the move towards co-existence of man and animal.
Agatha said humans and elephants have co-existed in Garo hills for ages. However, as time passed, people took over more and more land and the elephant lost their habitat.
"This may perhaps be the reason why they behave unnaturally and come into conflict with man," she said.
She called for a holistic approach in reconstructing the environment and enhancing preservation of species in the region.