NEWS - Feature-Elephants under Sieg

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Feature-Elephants under Siege in Bangladesh

               Reuters
               13-JAN-98
               By Shehab Ahmed Nafa 

               DHAKA, Bangladesh (Reuters) -
               Bangladeshis got a rare glimpse of
               the country's fast-disappearing wild
               Asian elephant last month but they
               did not like what they saw. 

               A newspaper carried photos of one of
               the endangered animals, shot to
               death and awash in blood after its
               tusks and toenails had been ripped
               out by poachers. Conservationists
               and other readers were outraged. 

               For many, the most shocking aspect
               of the death was that it occurred in
               the Eidgah wildlife sanctuary in
               southeastern Bangladesh, one of the
               country's few remaining elephant
               refuges. Pressure from
               conservationists and the public to
               punish those responsible moved
               embarrassed wildlife authorities to
               order an investigation. 

               The case has thrown a harsh
               spotlight on the precarious state of
               Bangladesh's elephant population.
               Wildlife activists say the number of
               elephants, protected under the 1974
               Wildlife Preservation Act, has
               dwindled to only about 450, most of
               which survive in the rugged
               southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts. 

               The tracts, a southern extension of
               the Himalayas, once offered the
               perfect habitat, but the herds are
               under growing pressure from human
               encroachment on their feeding
               grounds and have been pushed to
               the brink of extinction by poachers. 

               They have been declared
               endangered throughout Asia and are
               protected by the Convention on Trade
               in Endangered Species (CITES),
               which prohibits trading in ivory. In
               Bangladesh, violators face two years'
               jail and a fine. 

               ASIAN ELEPHANTS FACE
               EXTINCTION ``Asian elephants are
               clearly facing extinction due to
               human encroachment in their habitat
               and lax security in the wildlife
               reserves,'' said Rashiduzzaman
               Ahmed, the International Union for
               Conservation of Nature's
               representative in Bangladesh. 

               ``Unless steps are taken soon to
               overcome the shortcomings, the
               elephants will become extinct in
               Bangladesh in the next five to six
               years. Besides falling to poachers'
               guns, many will migrate to
               neighboring countries,'' he said. 

               Many of Bangladesh's wild elephants
               are thought to be crossing into
               neighboring Myanmar (formerly
               Burma), which has the largest
               population of Asian elephants as a
               result of a comparatively undisturbed
               habitat, said Zakir Hossain, IUCN
               regional chief for South and
               Southeast Asia. 

               Clearing of forests to make way for
               palm oil and rubber plantations has
               taken its toll on the traditional
               foraging grounds in southeastern
               Bangladesh. Large groves of
               bamboo, one of the elephants'
               favorite foods, were wiped out to
               provide materials for the construction
               of shelters for some 250,000 Muslim
               refugees who arrived from Myanmar
               in 1992. 

               Most of the refugees have since
               returned to Myanmar but the
               now-barren hills no longer provide
               enough food for the elephants,
               conservationists say. 

               Wildlife biologist Anisuzzaman Khan,
               executive director of Nature
               Conservation Movement (NACOM), a
               non-government organization, said
               human encroachment had led to
               increasingly frequent run-ins between
               elephants and people. With the
               destruction of their staples -- bamboo
               shoots and banana trees -- elephants
               are often forced to prey on other
               crops. 

               ELEPHANTS STRIKE BACK At least
               10 people died in 1997 and many
               others were injured when wild
               elephants rampaged through villages,
               pulling down houses and eating or
               trampling down crops. 

               ``Despite petitions by local residents
               to keep the Chunoti wildlife park (in
               southeastern Bangladesh) and the
               last remaining patches of green
               forest intact so that elephants remain
               happy within their homes, nothing
               has been done so far,'' Khan said. If
               their natural habitat were given better
               protection, he added, the elephants
               would have no need to venture out
               and clash with farmers. 

               The Forest Department is conducting
               a study to determine ways to better
               conserve these elephant habitats.
               Spurred by the uproar over the
               poaching case, both NACOM and
               Bangladesh's non-governmental
               National Bio-Diversity Group have
               offered to lend expertise and
               manpower to the effort. 

               As for the poachers responsible for
               the slaughtered elephant shown in
               the newspaper, Abdul Wahab
               Akonda, a wildlife conservation
               officer, said authorities were on their
               trail. ``We are taking action,'' he said,
               but he added even if the culprits are
               caught a lack of properly trained
               conservation personnel will leave
               Bangladesh's remaining herds at the
               mercy of poachers. 

                  Copyright 1998