Elephant-Human Conflict in the Western Duars of Northern West Bengal, India
Table of Contents
The Western Duars and the Elephant corridor 3
Zones in the Corridor 3
The conflict 4
What is the urgency of studying the situation? 4
Causes of the conflict 6
1. Habitat fragmentation 6
2. Indiscriminate killing or injuring of elephants in Nepal 7
3. Army establishments 7
4. The Siliguri-Alipurduar railway track 7
The railway system 7
Elephant casualties on the track 8
Seasonal mortality records 9
Hour-wise mortality records 9
High risk zones 9
Current conflict management practices 10
LATEST CONFLICT DATA 11
What needs to be done? 14
Conclusion 15
Works Cited 16
Annexures 17
Annexure 1: List of Elephants killed on Railway Tracks in North Bengal 17
Annexure 2: Following is the list of accidents occurred in and outside the recommended zones 19
Elephant-Human Conflict in the Western Duars of North Bengal
The Western Duars and the Elephant corridor
The Duars region at the foothills of the eastern Himalayas is a vast swathe of 8,800 sq km terai forests and plains divided by the Sankosh river into two parts, Eastern and Western Duars. Both were ceded by Bhutan to the British at the end of the Bhutan war (1864- '65). The Western Duars lies in the northern West Bengal state and is a lowland belt linking the Himalaya and the plains region. The Western Duars is an important centre of the tea industry. The word Duars (literally, "doors") is derived from the existence of several passes that lead from the region into the Lesser Himalayas (Hoiberg & Ramchandani, 2000).
The Asian elephant, in spite of being a shy animal avoiding human contact, needs a huge amount of food and water as also a large living space. It migrates vast distances just in a quest to fulfill its basic needs of food, shelter and mating. Also, when it is peak monsoon in Assam, the elephants migrate westwards in search of less wet areas as excessive water festers germs on their feet. It is this particular behaviour which brings them in contact
Cited: Anand, S. (2007). Man-elephant conflict in BTR. (S. Iyer, Interviewer) Bist, S Bose, A. (2007). Interview with the founder-coordinator, HNAF. (G. Vinod Kumar, Interviewer) Hoiberg, D., & Ramchandani, I Salimath, V. (2007). Man-elephant conflict in Chalsa Range. (P. Chauhan, Interviewer) Annexures Near Hasimara (1993) Madarihat (01/07/92) Madarihat (13/11/06)