Elephant task force final report published
Elephant task force final report published
News reports say:
Panel for phased curbs on captive elephants
Bombay News.NetTuesday 31st August, 2010 (IANS)
The elephant task force set up by the environment and forests ministry has recommended discontinuing in a regulated manner the practice of keeping elephants in temples, zoos and circuses.In its report submitted to Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Tuesday, the 12-member task force said there are 3,500 captive elephants in the country with 1,200-1,500 of them working in temples.'It is not possible to put a blanket ban on captive elephants but eventually they have to be phased out. There is a need for some kind of regulation in this respect,' said Mahesh Rangarajan, who heads the task force.Concerned over the 'poor status' of captive elephants in temples, Ramesh asked the members of the task force to talk to the temple managements.Initially the task force is likely to hold dialogue with the Guruvayur temple in Kerala which has the highest number of 65 captive elephants.The panel said India should prevent deadly man-animal conflicts in places where shrinking forests force elephants to enter villages in search of food.'More than half a million people suffer crop damage due to rampaging elephants each year. Elephants kill more people than those who die in road accidents,' he said.The report also called for notifying elephant reserves as ecologically sensitive areas under the Environment Protection Act.The task force also emphasised the need to recruit more people to prevent poaching of elephants.There are about 25,000 elephants in the country and 88 elephant corridors. India is home to 60 percent of elephants in Asia.India started Project Elephant in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to the elephant range states in India for the protection of jumbos, their habitat and corridors and address issues of human-animal conflict.
TUESDAY Aug 31, 2010 04:54 ET
Panel: India must create more elephant reserves
By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press
AP
FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2005 file photo, wild elephants run after being chased out by domesticated elephants at Tarajuli tea estate in Rangapara, about 245 kilometers (153 miles) east of Gauhati, India. India unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010 to save its dwindling elephant population with a multi-pronged strategy including creating new reserves, improvement of habitats and strict norms for elephants in captivity. "Elephant corridors" which the animals use to move across forested regions straddling different states would be secured and protected by law to prevent encroachment by mining, irrigation or industrial projects leading to the destruction of the habitat Jairam Ramesh, minister for environment and forests said while declaring the elephant India's "National Heritage Animal.
India should protect its elephant population by creating new reserves, curbing poaching and restricting development in the corridors they use to travel between forested areas, a panel recommended Tuesday.
Poaching for ivory and increased conflicts between people and elephants due to their dwindling habitat are key problems faced by India's wild elephant population, estimated at around 26,000.
The Elephant Task Force recommended setting up a national elephant conservation authority, establishing dedicated elephant reserves and protecting 88 corridors that the animals use across the country from mining, irrigation and other industrial projects.
The report's lead author, Mahesh Rangarajan, said elephants have not received the same attention as tigers and other endangered wildlife, partly because their rate of decline has not been as dramatic. The numbers of wild elephants in India have stayed about the same over the past decade, but their habitat has continued to decline.
"With the elephant it is not a crisis of extinction, but a crisis of attrition," he said.
Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said India was declaring the elephant its "National Heritage Animal" to raise awareness of the issue.
Rangarajan said India should make a priority of preventing deadly conflicts between people and elephants in places where shrinking forests force elephants to encroach on villages in search of food. More than half a million people suffer crop damage due to rampaging elephants each year.
India's national parks also suffer massive encroachment from people who live and forage for food in the forests or graze their cattle inside.
The panel also said India needs to curb poaching using trained forest guards with modern communication equipment.
Only male Asian elephants have tusks, and the poaching of males for their ivory has drastically skewed the ratio between male and female elephants in India.
"In some places, the ratio is down to one male elephant for every hundred females," Rangarajan said.
Vivek Menon, a wildlife expert with the Wildlife Trust of India, said the panel's recommendations are a step in the right direction.
"If implemented in full, these are more than enough to save the elephant," he said.
Panel for phased curbs on captive elephants
Tue, Aug 31 2010 17:24 IST 21 Views
New Delhi, Aug 31
The elephant task force set up by the environment and forests ministry has recommended discontinuing in a regulated manner the practice of keeping elephants in temples, zoos and circuses.
In its report submitted to Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Tuesday, the 12-member task force said there are 3,500 captive elephants in the country with 1,200-1,500 of them working in temples.
"It is not possible to put a blanket ban on captive elephants but eventually they have to be phased out. There is a need for some kind of regulation in this respect," said Mahesh Rangarajan, who heads the task force.
Concerned over the "poor status" of captive elephants in temples, Ramesh asked the members of the task force to talk to the temple managements.
Initially the task force is likely to hold dialogue with the Guruvayur temple in Kerala which has the highest number of 65 captive elephants.
The panel said India should prevent deadly man-animal conflicts in places where shrinking forests force elephants to enter villages in search of food.
"More than half a million people suffer crop damage due to rampaging elephants each year. Elephants kill more people than those who die in road accidents," he said.
The report also called for notifying elephant reserves as ecologically sensitive areas under the Environment Protection Act.
The task force also emphasised the need to recruit more people to prevent poaching of elephants.
There are about 25,000 elephants in the country and 88 elephant corridors. India is home to 60 percent of elephants in Asia.
India started Project Elephant in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to the elephant range states in India for the protection of jumbos, their habitat and corridors and address issues of human-animal conflict.
Elephant to be declared national heritage animal: Jairam
New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Tuesday said the elephant would soon be declared a national heritage animal in order to step up measures for its protection.
‘We will soon declare elephant as a national heritage animal as they have been part of our heritage since ages. We need to give same degree of importance to elephant as is given to tiger in order to protect the big animal,’ said Ramesh.
The Elephant Task Force Tuesday submitted its report to the ministry. It lays out a comprehensive action agenda for protecting elephants in the wild and in captivity, and for addressing human-elephant conflict.
The report by the 12-member committee also called for setting up of a statutory agency National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA) on the lines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), with a substantial enhancement in the budgetary outlay.
‘We need to amend the Wildlife Protection Act in order to set up NECA. We will introduce it (amendment) in the winter session of parliament,’ he said.
There are about 25,000 elephants in the country with 3,500 in captivity. India is home to 60 percent of elephants in Asia.
India started Project Elephant in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to the elephant range states in India for the protection of jumbos, their habitat and corridors and address issues of human-animal conflict.
–Indo-Asian News service
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