Darjeeling: The march of rampaging elephants is giving sleepless nights to authorities, who are at a loss to devise a way out to stem the menace in North Bengal.
Faced with the untenable situation, authorities have come up with a novel way to deal with the problem. So far, 21 people have died in elephant attacks in the state in the last one-and-a-half years. In such a situation, the State Forest Department and the State Zoo Authority took a novel initiative to bring the rogue elephants under control. Now the forest department is going to build a free correctional facility for pachyderms. Land has also been marked for the project in Bankura.
In that correctional facility, rogue elephants will be kept and trained. Not only that, sick elephants will also be treated there. The initiative is aimed at reducing the conflict between elephants and humans. The elephants will be kept at the correctional facility by creating a natural enclosure. If there are several elephants, then the elephants will be brought under tourism through safari, according to the sources of the forest department. Soumitra Dasgupta, Chief Wildlife Warden, said, "The rogue elephants are a big problem. That's why a long-term plan for setting up free correctional facilities has been made."
He also said, "Many times these elephants are caught and released to other places, and when they start killing people, then we are also forced to kill them. A free correctional facility will be built for those elephants. An area of 1500 hectares of land has been identified in Bankura. Several elephants have also been identified. There are such correctional facilities in Africa, Sri Lanka."
Solitary Nature and Animal Protection Foundation (SNAP) official Kaustav Chowdhury welcomed the move. He said, "It is a very good initiative by the forest department. There are such open sanctuaries in Africa, Thailand. But the elephants need to be identified properly."
Recently, six such elephants have been identified in North Bengal, according to the sources of the Forest Department. Elephants ran amok in several areas including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Bankura, Purulia, and Jhargram. Such facilities have been set up in Kerala. Several senior officers of the state forest department are sent there for training.
There will be provision for several separate enclosures for the elephants. A total of 25 to 30 elephants will be housed there. Elephant calves are trained for their acclimatisation to the mainstream. Besides, a state-of-the-art hospital for elephants will be built there. Old and sick elephants will be treated there. A Rs 70 crore tourism project will also come up soon, officials said.
