Bhubaneswar | STOP ANIMAL ABUSE

“Please Note Graphic Image: furthest down page! Two items of related news: the first shows yet another image of an elephant killed by speeding train, in March 2013. In that article India’s Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal stressed the need to protect the elephants from trains…the current news below is a step in the right direction!”

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to check growing number of cases of elephants being fatally hit by trains, Odisha government today signed an MoU with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to develop a mitigation plan.

The New Delhi-based WTI would identify and map the critical accident prone sites and habitats of elephants and also identify factors – ecological, physical and man-made- responsible for accidental deaths of elephants.

“WTI will prepare a detailed report on mitigation plan and implement the Rs 9.9 lakh project over a period of 12 months,” said Forest and Environment minister Bijayshree Routray after signing the MoU.

Last year, the state has witnessed death of about 13 elephants due to train hits. While seven jumbos were killed due to train accidents in Keonjhar, four in Berhampur of Ganjam district and two in Dhenkanal district.

The state government had held several meetings with the Indian Railway authorities and the Ministry of Environment and Forest(MoEF) on the issue. However, there had been no such improvement in the situation.

WTI will simultaneously organise consultations/ meetings/workshops with the staff of forest department and other stake holders departments and finalise mitigation plan and jointly implement a few identified shot term mitigation plan like signage along the railway track and awareness of train drivers, the minister said.

News Link:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora–fauna/Odisha-signs-MoU-with-Wildlife-Trust-of-India-to-save-elephants-from-train-hits/articleshow/19990978.cms?intenttarget=no

“Please Note Graphic Image Below”

March 2013 – Giant elephant killed by speeding train INSIDE nature reserve as it tries to cross track in remote northeast India –

This tragic photo shows the body of a tusker elephant who died today when he was hit by a speeding train in West Bengal.

The adult elephant was struck by a train in a forest at the Buxa Tiger Reserve, a few miles from Alipurduar in north east India.

A speeding passenger train, the Guwahati-bound Somporkkranti Express, hit the elephant while he was crossing the railway line. He died instantly.

The tiger reserve where the elephant was killed is inside the Buxa National Park, which runs along India’s boundary with Bhutan.

This means that the tiger reserve serves as international corridor for elephants migrating between India and Bhutan, making a it a danger spot for train drivers.

Indian forest guards now have the difficult task of getting the huge animal off the tracks so that the train line can reopen.

Sadly this fatal collision was not an isolated incident.

As recently as December last year, five elephants were killed after they were hit by a passenger train in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

They were crossing railway tracks with their herd.

At the moment there are around 26,000 wild elephants in India.

Although elephants are worshipped by many Indians, their shrinking habitat has made them increasingly unsafe, especially when travelling cross country.

The state of Orissa in eastern India last year issued a warning, asking trains to slow down because of moving elephants herd, but they say it was ignored.

The main reasons for elephant deaths are poaching, eating crops poisoned by farmers, and being hit by trains.

Last week, India’s Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal stressed the need to protect the elephants from trains, describing the animals as ‘gentle giants’ whose lives must be safeguarded.

News Link:-: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288559/Elephant-killed-speeding-train-crossing-railway-track-India.html#ixzz2TPEjBYHM
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Train Kills Another 5 Elephants In East India

January 8, 2013

“WTF…these trains shouldn’t go through or any where near where elephants roam; but they do, so I guess they are there to stay. So they should follow the guidelines & go slow, when they know they are approaching an area where elephants may cross…there are sign posts where elephants are likely to cross, plus they are big enough to spot!.”

“The Wildlife Trust of India has identified at least 19 spots where railway tracks passes through elephant habitats. These spots have been declared sensitive; so why are elephants still being killed…well it can only be that drivers are going to fast to be able to stop in time…we can’t afford to lose 1 elephant never mind 5 in this ever decreasing population. As if they don’t have enough to deal with, with local villagers chasing them away…humans have encroached on their habitat & taken their food supply away, what do they expect??”

“According to Elephant Task Force (ETF), Assam tops with a 36 per cent of elephant casualties due to train-hits since 1987, followed by West Bengal with 26 per cent and Uttarakhand with 14 per cent. Elephants corridors have been made for their safe passage over tracks & also to avoid human contact; trains are required to provide safe crossing to the elephants, but it’s obviously not working…Perhaps it’s time to prosecute the train drivers, for killing elephants…I’m sure that would make them slow down!!”

Bhubaneshwar, India–A speeding passenger train killed five elephants when it ploughed into a herd crossing the track in eastern India, a railway spokesman said Monday.

Onlookers gather around an elephant that was killed by a passenger train in the Rambha forest area, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. A passenger train has plowed into and killed five elephants of a herd crossing railroad tracks in eastern India. Dozens of elephants have died in India in recent years after being struck while crossing railroad tracks that often run through national parks and forests. AP

The train struck the animals on Sunday near the Khallikote forest range in Orissa state’s Ganjam district, some 120 kilometres (74 miles) south of the state capital Bhubaneshwar.

“The local forest department had alerted the railway control room about the possibility of the movements of the animals but by the time we got the message the accident had already occurred,” spokesman R. N. Mohapatra told AFP.

The train was badly damaged and it took rail road workers several hours to clear the tracks. “Nothing compared to the poor elephants…something has to be done to slow the trains down when approaching area’s where elephants cross…before more are killed!”

A local forest officer said one of the animals that was killed was a 45-year-old pregnant mother. “Something has to be done about these speeding trains, how many more elephants are going to be killed this way?”

The state has a poor record of protecting its wildlife with as many as 250 elephants and 504 other wild animals having died since 2009, according to official data.

India is home to around 25,000 Asian elephants but their numbers are falling due to poaching, chiefly for the precious ivory, and destruction of habitat by human populations. “And Trains!!”

News Link:- http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/332943/speeding-train-kills-five-elephants-in-eastern-india

Published on 30 Dec 2012

A passenger train ploughed into and killed five elephants as the herd crossed railroad tracks in Odisha. The incident happened in the Rambha forest area, about 180 kilometres south of Bhubaneshwar. The chief conservator of the state’s wildlife department has blamed railroad authorities. He says Rail authorities ignore Forest dept’s warning that trains should slow down because a herd of elephants was moving in the area. The railroad spokesman said the warning came too late. India’s wild elephant population was recently estimated at about 26-thousand.

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