Dossier on lone elephants

BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Siliguri, Nov. 30: The state forest department has initiated the process of preparing a dossier on lone wild elephants in north Bengal to keep a tab on their movements and check intrusions into human habitats close to forests and the elephant corridor.

In the dossier, the forest department will record information about lone elephants such as a photo of the animal, its preferred zone of movement, sex, age and body proportions. The dossier will also mention whether an elephant is a tusker or a ' makna' (male without tusks), said N.S. Murali, the chief conservator of forest, wildlife (north Bengal), yesterday.

Murali said: "There are 57 lone elephants in the forests of north Bengal and they often enter adjacent human habitats. We have recently taken up the task of preparing a detail record of such elephants so they can be easily identified. We can track their location, areas where they roam around and other details with the help of the dossier."

He added dossier would maintain records of lone elephants in the forest divisions of Kurseong, Baikunthapur, Gorumara, Jaldapara and the Buxa Tiger Reserve (east and west).

Foresters said 40 persons had died so far this year in elephant attacks and in most cases, the victims were attacked by lone elephants.

Among the 57 lone elephants in the forests of north Bengal, 44 are tuskers while the remaining 13 are makna, forest source said.

"As these elephants move alone, they can easily fall prey to poachers, especially the tuskers. The dossier would help us keep watch on them as our staff will be able to identify each elephant with the help of information in the dossier," Murali said.

Forest sources said Pradip Vyas, the state principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), had also instructed that a similar set of records be prepared for rhinos.

"Recently, there had been some incidents of rhino poaching at the Gorumara National Park and the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. The principal conservator has asked for similar dossiers on rhinos. There are around 255 rhinos in Gorumara and Jaldapara," Murali said.

Tusker dead

Carcass of a male sub-adult elephant was recovered on Wednesday from the plantations of Karbala Tea Estate near Banarhat, around 50km from Jalpaiguri. Forest sources said post-mortem reports will ascertain the cause of death of the animal.

In another incident, a herd of eight elephants, walked out of Reti forest and were found marauding close to the Banarhat Hindi College. Foresters reached the spot and steered back the herd in adjoining Moraghat forest.