At a time when the nation is celebrating the success of The Elephant Whisperers on the Oscars, a recent row has erupted in West Bengal as the carcass of a male sub-adult elephant with mortar fragments was found near an Army firing range in north Bengal.
Debal Roy, State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden, mentioned the carcass was found on Tuesday.
“The incident occurred at the Baikunthapur Forest Division not far from the firing range. We will hold meetings with Army authorities at different levels. Meanwhile, Army operations have been suspended in the area,” Mr. Roy mentioned.
The forest official mentioned a autopsy has been carried out on the carcass and the division has ordered an investigation. Mr. Roy additional mentioned that the firing range has been functioning for fairly a while however the dying of a elephant has occurred for the primary time.
Forest Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick acknowledged that the division has been requesting the Army to shift its capturing range to another place.
A press assertion by the Army earlier this week had referred to the dying of an individual however there was no reference to an elephant being hit because of train. The Army assertion recognized the deceased as Tilak Bahadur Rai, 50, who entered the restricted zone of Teesta Field Firing Range “with the likely intention of scrap collection”.
“The Field Firing Range is on the banks of Teesta River and the area is a notified Firing Range. As per Standard Operating Procedure, all clearances from local administration, police stations were obtained and villagers notified about the firing practices in advance. The bereaved family of the deceased decided not to lodge any FIR,” the assertion mentioned.
The forests of north Bengal are house to about 590 elephants as per the 2017 census and human-elephant battle is sort of frequent in the forest areas and tea gardens of the area.
