The horrific killing of a female elephant in Jhargram by throwing a flaming pointed iron spear that pierced her back, inflicting severe and fatal wounds, is condemnable, and points to the total failure of both intent and systems to mitigate human and elephant conflict in south Bengal, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) has stated.
The body demands the government to constitute an inquiry into this incident and further recommends necessary steps for the state forest ministry/department.
“Human-elephant conflict, entirely because of bad policy, that ignores both the human and the animal interest, have turned elephant incursions into war-like scenarios. It appears that now elephants and humans are at war with each other and the recent brutal murder of the wild elephant is yet another example of that,” said Alok Hisarwala, advocate, founder of the Centre for Research on Animal Rights.
On 15 August, a hulla party chased a group of elephants that had strayed into Jhargram town. A man had previously died in an encounter with a tusker from the same herd.
Hulla parties, which are controlled by the state forest departments, are supposed to use drums and other non-violent means to drive away elephants. But in this case, the crowd threw flaming iron spears at the elephants, one of which pierced the elephant’s back. A video that is being widely circulated shows the elephant with the fiery spear sticking out of its back, in agony.
South Bengal is prone to extensive human and elephant conflict that is concerning. The2018 Supreme Court order had acknowledged the difficulty of managing the conflict situation, given the topography of south Bengal, with its paddy fields and other crops that attract elephants. The apex court had directed that close to 60 per cent of positions lying vacant in the state forest department be filled so that the hulla parties could be managed by trained personnel.