More Elephant Deaths Feared on India’s Railways
It is now the post-monsoon season in India and elephants are at their most mobile as they move between feeding areas ahead of winter. Unfortunately this can bring them into contact – and conflict – with people, and see them venturing across roads and railways, putting their lives in peril. Just last Saturday another young female elephant was knocked down and killed by a train in West Bengal, and Elephant Family fears that many more will meet a similar fate unless urgent action is taken.
The incident was caused by a speeding train on the outskirts of the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, not far from Jalpaiguri. The sub-adult female was struck just after 7:00pm and her body was dragged almost 250m along the tracks before being pushed to the side by the engine. Once the train had eventually came to a stop, the rest of her herd returned to the tracks and surrounded her body, blocking the tracks for more than an hour until the Forest Department could drive them back into the forest.
Sadly this is not an isolated incident. This was the tenth death so far this year, on the back of the worst year on record, in which at least 19 were recorded. With India’s rapid development, railways are increasingly extending into rural areas, and tracks are being upgraded to a broader gauge, for running faster trains. As such they are becoming an increasing menace to crossing elephants, and the death toll keeps rising. Despite concerns raised by conservationists, the 168km stretch of track where last weekend’s incident occurred was upgraded to broad gauge in 2002, and since then five elephants have been killed on average every year, and many other animals besides. Two elephants were killed in this area back in June, and less than 14 months ago seven were killed by a speeding goods train on the same stretch. The ensuing outcry prompted the Railways and Forests Departments to announce a range of measures to prevent further deaths, but little has been done since. All it would take in some areas would be to enforce speed limits, or prevent trains running after dark through accident-prone areas.
Elsewhere Elephant Family and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) have shown that other simple measures can make all the difference. Warning signs to alert train drivers in areas where elephants are prone to cross the tracks, together with patrols to check for elephants crossing the tracks at night have proved particularly effective. Such methods and others have been tried and tested at Rajaji National Park and in certain parts of Assam. Assam once had one of the worst records for elephant mortality on the railways, and while there is still a long way to go before deaths are completely eradicated, more than 100 accidents have already been averted by the Elephant Family and WTI team in the past three years. However, with elephants now at their most mobile, the team is already stretched to its full capacity, and more deaths are feared. Thanks to the recent support of the Nando Peretti Foundation we are extending some of the measures to other badly affected areas, but more support is still urgently needed to overcome the worst in certain areas, such as in West Bengal.
written by Dan Bucknell on 11th November 11
