Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve employees booked for burning dead elephant, destroying evidence (Bhopal)
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve employees booked for burning dead elephant,
destroying evidence (Bhopal)
P Naveen, Times of India
May 19, 2023
See link
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/bandhavgarh-tiger-reserve-employees-booked-for-burning-dead-elephant-destroying-evidence/articleshow/100358541.cms
for photos.
Five employees of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Madhya Pradesh
have been booked by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) team from
Delhi and the state wildlife's Special Task Force (STF) for their alleged
involvement in the clandestine burning of a dead wild elephant.
The suspects not only buried the charred skeletal remains in six deep pits
within the reserve but also ground the remaining fragments into minuscule
particles along with ashes and dispersed them throughout the Son River in
an apparent attempt to eradicate any trace of their crime.
The motives driving these individuals to commit such a act remain shrouded
in mystery, compelling authorities to subject these suspects to intensive
interrogation.
The group includes a forest guard, a forester, and three forest watchers.
It took several hours for the investigating team to locate pits and collect
evidences. They are also trying to confirm if the elephant had a tusk.
State chief wildlife warden J S Chouhan, when contacted, assured that the
investigations are in progress and those found guilty will face
consequences.
The incident, which occurred in November 2022, came to light in January
2023 when an inquiry was initiated by the Union Environment Ministry
following a complaint lodged by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey from Bhopal.
Dubey alleged that a wild elephant was poached, and its carcass was burned
in the buffer zone of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Shahdol district.
Accompanying his complaint, Dubey submitted photographs on January 11,
claiming to have received credible information from local sources about the
incident occurring near Chhatwa village, which falls within BTR’s Panpatha
buffer zone.
Officials suspect that the burnt elephant may be the one that was treated
and released in the forest after being found unconscious in the Panpatha
range in October 2022.
Samples have been sent for forensic analysis to determine the cause of
death. Authorities are also perplexed as to why the forest employees
resorted to burning the carcass and attempting to destroy the evidence.
During initial interrogations, the employees claimed to have acted out of
fear of retribution from higher authorities. However, officers remain
unsatisfied with their explanations.
Notably, wild elephants have been responsible for the deaths of nearly 12
individuals in Madhya Pradesh over the past five years, with eight
fatalities occurring in the three districts surrounding the Sanjay Tiger
Reserve. These immigrant tuskers have been primarily sustaining themselves
on cultivated crops while exhibiting behaviour, such as house-breaking for
stored grain, salt, and possibly liquor, passed down through generations.
A report from the government's core committee on mitigating Human-Elephant
Conflict (HEC) after extensive field investigations has made several
recommendations to address the situation. The experts suggest considering
the formation of a new Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant, comprising
the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and the Sanjay Tiger Reserve, along with
their adjoining buffers and connecting corridors, for effective long-term
management. They emphasize the need for allocated resources, staffing, and
senior officials to oversee the reserve's operations.
Additionally, the report recommends the formulation of state-level
guidelines for elephant conservation and mitigation of human-elephant
conflicts. It urges urgent consideration of a policy facilitating immediate
payment of ex-gratia towards human-elephant conflicts. The experts propose
entering a regime of adaptive management of the state's elephant
population, taking into account the success or failure of conflict
mitigation measures, continued immigration of elephants, and the viability
of maintaining demographically stable populations with manageable levels of
conflicts.