The Elephant In The Room

First published in Sanctuary Asia, Vol. 43 No. 2, February 2023

The sight of wild elephants quite naturally results in soul-satisfying elation and a sense of wonder. Sadly, none of the images on these pages will soothe our souls.

God of auspicious beginnings, gardener of forests, wielder of great memories, these gentle giants have always been revered in India, and they have played an important part in our cultural and religious heritage. In more recent times, technology has given us the ability to so damage elephant habitats such that not just the pachyderms, but even human existence has been threatened by our poor planet management. This has predictably resulted in conflicts that are more complex than most people imagine, because elephants are intelligent, social animals, that in some ways mirror the behaviour of human societies. Through the ages, unless elephant migrations were interrupted, the pachyderms have not been recorded destroying their own habitats. Reducing the stressors between elephants and humans requires nuanced, sensitive interventions, and this involves long-term solutions, not quick fixes. On the following pages, we merely scratch the surface of the problems we humans have caused across India, for the largest land mammals on Earth. From forest fringes to the edges of urban areas, the problem only seems to be getting worse. And yet, solutions exist… most of them involving that old line of wisdom: prevention is better than cure.

A Cruel Ride

Photo: Photo: Krishnakumar Mechoor.

According to a Right to Information (RTI) query dating back to 2019, India has 2,675 captive elephants. Most were captured from the wild as calves and domesticated for use in temples, for religious processions, zoos, for entertainment and tourism. As can be seen from this image, elephants are often transported over long distances in cramped lorries, causing much stress, dehydration, injury and trauma. Under Section 40 of the WLPA, the ownership, transfer and transportation of elephants across states require written permission of the Chief Wildlife Warden and under Section 48(b), no Schedule I and II species may be captured and traded without certification from the appropriate department. But loopholes are all too often found, sometimes intentionally created. We have rules that allow elephants to be inherited or gifted. This neatly allows a thriving trade to bypass laws that sound quite reasonable to the untrained eye.

Not For The Road

Photo: Alijah Mohammed.

In the wild, elephants are socially complex animals, forming a herd of six to seven females, led by an experienced matriarch. The herd exhibits extraordinary teamwork – cooperating for defence, locating food and water, caring for offspring, and even collective decision-making. Captive elephants are amputated from this sense of belonging. If they undergo long periods of isolation at a young age, they exhibit signs of psychological distress and high levels of physical stress. Forcing elephants to walk on tar and concrete for long distances, often in harsh weather conditions, leaves them with torn footpads, cracked toenails and wounded cuticles. And they feel pain just the way we do.

In Our Filth

Photo: Arijit Mahata.

On account of their sheer size, elephants spend roughly two thirds of their day feeding. They consume about 70,000 calories a day feeding on grasses, seeds, fruit, leaves and tree bark. The sight of this elephant consuming carelessly disposed plastic should cause us to hang our heads in shame. The image was taken close to Siliguri in West Bengal, but can be seen virtually across India. Sanctuary, through its campaign #InOurFilth, has been highlighting the issue of open rubbish dumps that end up causing illness and death to thousands of wild and even domestic animals. Eventually, the toxic plastics ‘come home to roost’ because microplastics have now been found in human mothers’ milk. The sooner we wisen up and clean up our act, the safer life will be for us humans and the lifeforms with whom we share our planet.

Hell Is Here

Photo: Biplab Hazra.

This mother and calf duo, separated from the safety of their herd, face the ire of a village mob, armed with flame-soaked balls of tar and firecrackers. Biplab Hazra was awarded the Sanctuary Photographer of the Year 2017 for this image, which was shot in the Bankura District of West Bengal. The image resulted in people responding with horror from across India and the world. Rubbish dumps, raids on cultivated lands and orchards are a direct outcome of humans nibbling away at elephant habitats. The onus of maintaining peace between us and the rest of life on Earth lies with humans.

Crushed Under

Photo: Atanu Sen.

Elephants are known to have great memories, remembering migration routes and old waterholes for generations. But the rapid pace at which humans are creating linear infrastructures and wiping out forests puts these innocent animals at great risk. The tragic image we see here represents the fate of a herd of five elephants that were trying to cross a train track near Chapramari in West Bengal. It is said that over 150 wild elephants have been killed by trains across India in the past decade. Conservationists believe that this number is a hopeless underestimation.

Food For Thought

Photo: Partha Bhowmik.

A wild elephant is chased away as it enters a paddy field in Rajabhatkhawa, West Bengal. Together with habitat fragmentation and forest degradation, elephants face an existential crisis caused by the scarcity of food. This is what forces them to search for high nutrition crops… most often with tragic results for both man and beast. While mitigation measures must be undertaken on a war footing, these must also be coupled with awareness drives to sensitise people not used to living in close proximity to wild elephants. Elephants require large tracts of undisturbed, unfragmented wildernesses. Ironically, such wildernesses are also recognised as critical to human survival because of their ability to temper the worst impacts of climate change by pulling atmospheric carbon back down to the ground.

Navigating A Changed Landscape

Photo: Sanjeet Mangat.

A male elephant in musth chases a female and her calf across tea estates and interspersed evergreen shola patches in Valparai, Tamil Nadu. By destroying natural habitats, we are not merely sealing the fate of wild animals, but are also unleashing upon humans the kind of climate Armageddon that we have never experienced before. The bottom line is that if we leave space for elephants to live, nature will return the favour by making life safer and happier for humans desperately seeking escape from pandemics, climate vagaries and soil degradation.

Not A Jaywalker

Photo: Biju Boro.

A wild elephant from Amchang Reserve Forest, West Bengal, seems to have better road manners than most humans, as he is seen using a ‘zebra’ crossing. This pachyderm was among the the lucky ones… most vehicles owners in a hurry, think nothing of speeding past wildlife. India’s decision to expand its road networks at the cost of our Protected Area network bodes ill for for both wild species and for humans whose very existence is dependent on the ecological services rendered by ecosystems and the denizens living therein.

But Some Humans Do Care

Photo: Biplab Hazra.

We have seen how roads, railway tracks, fences, and water reservoirs have made life hell for species such as elephants that have no way of adapting to the capricious ways of humans that they must surely consider as ‘neighbours from hell’. But this young, possibly inexperienced, elephant that ventured too close to an artificial reservoir in Bankura, West Bengal was fortunately rescued. Elephants are good swimmers but not when high walls trap them. The West Bengal Forest Department works against impossible odds and it is only thanks to them, and locals who joined hands to rescue the pachyderm, that this story had a happy ending.

With more and more young people sensitised towards nature and made aware of our dependence on the natural world, we believe that future generations will prove to be more sensitive, and intelligent, than ours has proven to be. Sanctuary believes that, working with nature, future generations will allow these gentle giants to roam vast wildernesses, which will end up improving the lives of humans as well.


 

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