Activists of various animal lover associations have agitated in Durgapur on Friday demanding the punishment of the DFO for the brutal killing of a pregnant elephant in Jhargram a few days ago. In a rally organised from Panch Matha More in Benachity, activists walked through the crowded Benachity Bazar to conclude their rally at the Bhiringi More.

Wildlife activist Tara Shankar Nag, who took active participation in the rally said that a video clip has already become viral which shows how the pregnant elephant has been brutally killed. “We seek justice for the deceased pachyderm and her calf and seek exemplary punishment of the guilty. It is a really pathetic incident. It has occurred at time when the entire world was celebrating World Elephant Day on 12 August.

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It is very sad to see that our forest department lacks the equipment to tackle a small herd of wild animals roaming in the human habitats. A number of elephants have been killed in recent times in the state in humanpachyderm conflict,” he has said. Already the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate control (MoEFCC) has sought a detailed report on this issue from the Chief Wildlife Warden of West Bengal. The incident has occurred on 15 August near Jhargram. So far two persons have been arrested in this case. The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisation has also urged the West Bengal Forest department to probe the incident and take measures.

During the rally, the activists chanted slogans seeking justrice for the pregnant elephant and said that it is a regular affair that Dalma elephant herds enter into Jhargram and the hulla party of the forest department pushed back the herds. But in this incident the hu lla party hurled flaming spears which pierced through the elephant’s back and she had a painful death. “We wo rship elephant as God in our co u ntry and such incidents cannot be tolerated fur ther,”said Rukmini Biswas, another protester from Raniganj. One human being was also killed by the herd of five elephants which also included tusker and calves.

For about three days the injured elephant was seen writhing in pain, finally succumbing to her burn injuries. The protesters said that the DFO should be held responsible for the elephant’s death and should be removed. The incident has brought back memorities of the horrific incident in 2021 in Kerala when a pregnant elephant was fed pineapple with fire cracker inside and was killed. In 2015, local people similarly killed a leopard by beating it to death in Purulia’s Kotshila forest. The Indian Leopard (Panthera Pardus) is an IUCN red listed animal.That incident has also rocked the nation at that time. The carcass of the leopard was hanged from a tall tree with ropes by the mob.

In India the current elephant population is 25000 to 30,000, which is almost two-third of the entire Asian Elephant population. The South Bengal forests did not have resident elephants like in North Bengal, but in recent times elephant herds from Dalma forest range in Jharkha – nd comes down in search of food and some of them stay back and become permanent residential elephants of South Bengal’s green patches. These elephant and fresh herds are constantly coming into conflict with human beings by destroying crops, agricultural fields, houses and occasionally killing villagers in the districts of South Bengal.