Khairul Kuader
Date: August 15, 2012,
Time: Early morning.
Suddenly a horrific, distressing cry filled the air. Like madmen, people were running around everywhere. Behind them a herd of wild elephants were smashing everything that fell in their way. Three people reportedly lost their lives and at least ten local villagers were injured. The crazy herd of elephant also slammed into a several houses before they left. The local police and the forest department, however, were able to send them back to the forest by firing blank shots at them before they claimed more lives.
Ever since 1980, it is a common phenomenon for wild elephants to kill people, damage crops and destroying houses in Cox’s Bazar. In India, elephants don’t only raid for food. Some of them have even developed a taste for rice beer and go on rampages. In Assam, conflicts between elephant and human beings have resulted in the deaths of more than 150 people and 200 elephants in a span of two years, according to the Assam Forest Department.
Elephant lovers and researchers have been searching for the actual reason behind these kind of rampages. Quite recently, some national and international elephant research organisations have discovered the cause behind the conflict between wild elephants and humans. They scrutinised the cause and found that the elephants have been losing their habitat due to the rapid increase of population, over a time span of the past 30 years. As an immediate consequence, competition for land has also become intense. The loss of habitat means that the large animal species end up sharing smaller area, as more days go by. It is apparent that elephants will clash with each other if forced into a close periphery. When animals are exclusively trapped into small areas, it also results in a shortage of food, states international wild life experts.
The Asian elephant is already been on the brink of extinction due to the loss of forest, loss of passage and forest disintegration. As human population increases, elephant habitat is being cleared for agricultural purposes and other development work. A large amount of Asian elephants have lost their space to roam and graze. This factor alone has resulted in a serious effect on human-elephant relations. “Bangladesh is an exceptionally poor country and the government does not have the resources to effectively manage the conservation of wildlife. There are virtually no active conservation projects in Bangladesh,” says Anwarul Islam, director of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB).
According to the international elephant organisation (EleAid) and Bangladesh Forest, there were 15 important elephant corridors in Bangladesh involving the native elephants and migratory populations from India and Myanmar. The routes are located at Zinaigati upazila of Sherpur, Kurigram, Sylhet, Khagrachari and Cox’s Bazar.
Elephants in Bangladesh are probably the most threatened elephants in all of Asia. Only a major commitment to secure the existing corridors may be their only chance of survival. In addition to these prevailing problems, cyclone Nargis destroyed forests of the Rakhine mountain range in the southern tip of the Irrawaddy River delta in
Myanmar, which resulted in loss of wild elephants’ habitat as well, pointed out environment experts.
Talking to the elderly rural people in Teknaf and Chakariya in Cox’s Bazar, the reporter found out that, approximately 200 years ago, elephants were abundant throughout the area of what is now Bangladesh. Today, however, the species have been listed as critically endangered and is one of the most threatened elephant populations in the range states. Moreover, up to thirty per cent of Bangladesh’s current elephant population is transient, migrating over the borders into neighbouring India or Myanmar, according to the Forest Department.
Asian elephants are alarmingly decreasing in Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf forests where the now red-listed creature, once one-third of elephant population of the country was found. The number of elephants are rapidly decreasing due to undue pressure created from deforestation and the increase in human activities in forest areas, according to the last census of the International Wildlife Research and Rescue Organisation World Conservation Union (IUCN). The census says there are only 30 to 35 elephants in the forests of Teknaf and Southern Cox’s Bazar regions.
Wild life expert Anwarul Islam says, “The lack of financial resources and an exclusive department alongside the absence of any conservation work means that the elephants in Bangladesh totally rely on living in areas isolated from human beings, in order to help them survive.”
“It is true that the government has many setbacks that come in their way when trying to mitigate this crisis. Take, for instance, financial problems. However, despite it all, the government has initiated many projects to help conserve Asian elephants,” says Bipul Krishna Das, Deputy Forest Officer of Cox’s Bazar (South) Division. The forest officer also says that, “The government has already secured the elephants’ corridor and the possible corridors that elephants can use in the future, have been declared as wild elephant zone. We have planted banana trees on around thousand acres in Cox’s Bazar for wild elephants.” “Teknaf, Ukheiya, Bandarban and Chakariaya in Cox’s Bazar district are the largest habitat for wild elephants; the government is working on those areas,” he continued.
In a survey conducted by the WTB on 388 people in four protected areas, (Teknaf Game Reserve, Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, and two other Reserve Forests in the south-east and the northeast areas of Bangladesh) almost two thirds stated that a protected area for wild elephant conservation would provide people with no value, while the remaining one-third agreed with the recreational value and the importance of elephant conservation for biodiversity and ecology.
Experts pointed out that the lack of awareness about elephant conservation is the main cause behind elephant extinction as people are not aware of this situation. However, a few people are on behalf of the idea to create a protected area for these wild giants. “To reduce conflict, Human-Elephant Coexistent (HECx) project has been proofed as a very effective step alongside being a fruitful initiative,” stated Gawsia Wahidunnessa Chowdhury, an Assistant Professor of Marine and Fisheries Department of Noakhali Science and Technology University, Sonapur, Noakhali. She participated in and conducted a HECx project in Cox’s Bazar.
Once upon a time, Asian elephants roamed through most of the forests and savannah regions of Asia. Today, only approximately 35,000-40,000 elephants have survived in the wild areas of 13 nations (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam). Additionally, around 16,000 domesticated elephants, most of who had been caught wild, assist humans in 11 among the same nations, according to a Summary Report by US Fish & Wildlife Service.
In Bangladesh, there maybe are around 300-350 wild elephants, out of which, around 200 are permanent residents of the country while another 100-150 use trans-boundary ranges. In 2003, the number of resident giants was estimated at 178, based on dung counts, and 196-227 residents and 83-100 non-residents, based on interviews and sightings. Among the non-resident elephants, 8-10 roams at Rajibpur of Kurigram district, 40-45 in Nalitabari of Sherpur district, 20-25 in Durgapur of Netrokona district, and 10 in the Sylhet forest division of the Maulvi Bazar district. In 2008-2009, the WTB and the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) India, reported 100-120 elephants in Nalitabari of Sherpur and 50-70 in Durgapur of Netrokona, and 30-35 in Rangunia of Chittagong, based on a participatory rural appraisal and questionnaire survey, according to a report entitled ‘Current Status of Asian Elephants in Bangladesh’. From a report, there are around 100 elephants held captive in Bangladesh. Of these, about 75 per cent are employed in the logging industry hauling timber while the remaining 25 per cent work in the circus. On the other hand, in Myanmar, 3000 Asian elephants are involved in logging, according to the Myanmar Forest Department.
Only 2,500 kilometres away from Bangladesh, just outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand, Elephant Nature Park has become a beacon for animal welfare and conservation activities. The Elephant Nature Park (ENP), founded in 1995, works for elephant conservation and bettering the lives of those in local villages. Today, the park is not only a place for the elephants to live their lives free from any kind of torture and abusive behaviours, but also an example to the rest of the world that wildlife conservation can help sustain communities. Other countries, like Bangladesh, can also become a part of the change and become leaders in helping preserve the elephants. “May be Teknaf Game Reserve forest can be an elephant conservation zone especially since the Bangladesh Government has already launched the project to save the Asian Elephant,” says Forest Officer Bipul Krishna.
However, the wild elephants in Bangladesh are limited to areas generally inaccessible to humans such as the isolated Chittagong Hill tracts or national parks, of which Himchari National Park and the Mainmukh and Pablakhali Wildlife Sanctuaries have been declared protected areas.
KHAMIN 
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