As much part of myth and folklore as of everyday life in India, the elephant is fighting a grim battle for survival in the wild as well as in captivity - much on the lines of the fast disappearing tiger. Though the total number of elephants in the country officially increased from 25,877 in 1977 to 26,413 in 2002, their population has markedly declined in many parts of the country, principally in the southern and northeastern states.
Even in the turn of the century, India boasted of some 100,000 elephants, say experts. The growing man-elephant conflict is at the core of the thinning population. The estimated number of elephants fell from 6,088 to 5,838 in Karnataka, from 5,312 to 5,246 in Assam and from 1,800 to 1,607 in Arunachal Pradesh, according to the environment and forests ministry.
In Nagaland, it dropped from 158 to 145, in Manipur from 30 to 12 and in Tripura from 70 to 40. Around 75 captive animals are also estimated to have perished in the past five years due to poor health and nutrition. "The drop in the elephant population in the country is very worrisome," said Jacob V Cheeran, chairman of the Kerala-based Elephant Study Centre. He said though the species was not on the brink of decimation as in the case of tigers, urgent steps were needed to put a stop to the rampant killing of the animals.
At the root of the dwindling numbers is the human encroachment on wildlife habitat and elephant intrusions into villages. In the northeast, elephants are being killed for fear of attacks. As many as 200 elephants have been killed over the past five years in Assam, which is home to more than a fourth of India's elephant population.
An elephant craving for homemade rice beer brewed by tribal people trampled three people and wounded seven others in an Assam village in early March. Similar incidents have been reported from Jharkhand. In West Bengal, an elephant that had killed people, destroyed crops and damaged houses was put to death. Forest villages in West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand frequently report elephant attacks. Villagers usually chase them out with flaming torches, crackers and beating of drums.
Lately, they have resorted to poisoning the beasts, killing at least 122. To avoid such confrontations, wild elephants are being tracked in the jungles using a global positioning system. But obviously not enough is being done. "The decrease in the elephant population in the northeast is due to loss of habitat, illegal hunting and human-elephant conflict," central Environment and Forest Minister A Raja said.
"Insurgency and traditional hunting practised by many tribes in the northeastern states have contributed to the decrease." Elephants are not only regarded sacred animals in large parts of South and Southeast Asia but also an essential element in religious and royal pageantry. According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 15 cases of elephant poaching were reported this year alone. Last year, poachers killed 23 elephants and the authorities seized 169 kg of ivory and two tusks. "The seizures are extremely alarming and indicate that all is not well for the elephant," said a WPSI official.
The global trade in ivory thrives despite a ban on buying and selling ivory under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Only the male Asian elephant produces tusks long enough for ivory carvers. Poaching for ivory is believed to have seriously skewed the male-female ratio of Indian elephant population, especially in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri hills, which alone is home to 6,000 to 10,000 elephants.
The bad news about elephants comes close on the heels of an alarm over tigers. Project Tiger today maintains 27 tiger reserves that are believed to house 1,498 tigers of India's reported 3,600-odd tigers, as per 2003 figures. But conservationists have cast serious doubts over the figures, since tigers have been reported missing from many of the sanctuaries, especially Sariska in Rajasthan that is suspected to have lost all its tigers to poaching.
