Guwahati:

Bodies of two wild elephants were recovered in two different places under the West Kamrup Divisional Forest area. Villagers from Pakharapara and nearby areas under the Singra Range Office in Boko found the bodies in a paddy field and later informed the state forest department.

“I got information about the body of an elephant in the Mouman reserve forest area. Therefore we immediately reached the incident site. The elephant was a male sub-adult and under 10 years old,” Ranger Hazarika said.

“Until now, we don’t know the cause of the elephant’s death. We called the state veterinary doctor for a post-mortem report and after the reports, we could determine the cause of the death,” he added.

Hazarika added, “Initially, as per our source’s information, the cause of the death of the elephant was electrocution, which is an illegal method used by some people to chase wild elephants and protect their farming.”

The state forest team found some materials used for electrocutions from the spot.

However, Ranger Hazarika further said that they had started an investigation into this matter and that if they found anything, they would take necessary action according to the Forest Act.

Meanwhile, animal rights activists raised concern over the incidents and said “In the Mouman Reserve forest area, there are many acres of forest land that have been encroached and the forest department should survey and take necessary action so that the man-elephant conflicts will decrease in the Pakharapara and nearby areas.”

A similar incident occurred in the Dhangargaon village area under the Kulshi Forest Range, the forest department found the body of a wild elephant in a paddy field.

According to the Ranger Kankan Jyoti Kaushik, the wild elephant was a male and around 25 years old. “As of now, we can’t say about the cause of death. However, we suspect the incident happened due to the electrocution.”

Singra and Kulshi Forest Ranges fall under the West Kamrup Divisional Forest Office.

Bhopal:

Eight elephants have died in 48 hours in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve; seven were found dead on Tuesday and an eighth carcass was found Wednesday. Seven of the dead elephants were females, each around three years old. The eighth was a four-five-year-old male.

The condition of a ninth elephant – of a herd of 13 – is critical, wildlife officials have said.

A tenth that was receiving medical care has recovered and has been released.

The three remaining members of the herd are under close observation.

A three-member team from the NTCA, or National Tiger Conservation Authority, is in Bandhavgarh, while a five-member team from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests is conducting an independent inquiry, the report of which will be filed in 10 days.

The primary suspected cause of death is poisoning.

Wildlife officials have searched over a dozen farms and houses in the area in which the elephant carcasses were found, and have questioned five people. The investigation area is spread over a five km radius and over 100 forest officials, including a canine squad, have been deployed.

Among other points being investigated are if the animals ate Kodo millet seeds; these can become dangerous if contaminated with a fungus that produces a toxic substance called cyclopiazonic acid. Samples have been collected from faecal matter, soil, and nearby plants.

Samples from nearby fields and crops, and a watering hole, will also be studied.

Possible man-animal conflict with villages in the area is also a concern.

The investigation, however, is being hampered by the presence of a larger and more aggressive herd of elephants – with around 20 individuals – in the area, as well as three tigers.

READ | 7 Elephants Dead In Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve In Madhya Pradesh

Meanwhile, the bodies of the eight elephants have been buried.

The Bandhavgarh reserve was in the news in August after a spate of tiger deaths prompted a major administrative shake-up. A special report – highlighted by NDTV on August 1 – pointed red flags in the department’s handling of tiger deaths, including procedural lapses and negligence by officials.

NDTV’s reportage helped shed light on the worrying increase in tiger deaths in Bandhavgarh and the Shahdol forest area between 2021 and 2023. As many as 43 tigers died in this period. Some deaths were linked to poaching and others to negligence by wildlife officials.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:

The introduction of an AI-based surveillance mechanism in 11 elephant corridors in the northeast has helped eliminate elephant deaths due to train collisions there and the Northeast Frontier Railway now plans to introduce it across the zone, an official has said.

The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) was introduced by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in December 2022 in 11 elephant corridors – five in Alipurduar division and six in Lumding division.

According to the NFR, in the eight months between its launch in December 2022 and July this year, the Intrusion Detection System has sounded 9,768 alerts, or an average 41 alerts daily.

“Every time an elephant steps on to the track, the system generates an alert to the train controller, station master, train drivers and other stakeholders who take precautionary measures to avoid the imminent danger,” Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer of NFR, said, adding the pilot project was introduced at a cost of around Rs 6 crore.

Mr De said that since the launch of the system, these 11 corridors have not reported any train-elephant collision.

Government data shows that on an average 20 elephants die due to train collisions in the country every year and a majority of these incidents take place in the Northeast Frontier Railway.

The success of the IDS holds out hope that such accidents will be a thing of the past, officials said.

They said the optical fiber cable (OFC) that the railways has laid beneath the tracks for tele-communication and signalling purposes comes in handy for the implementation of IDS.

The device, fitted in the OFC network, captures the vibration when an elephant comes on the track and sends out a real-time alert to the division control room and a mobile application. The system is able to detect and locate moving elephants up to 5 metre from the fibre optical cable.

Mr De said that there are 80 such elephant corridors in the Northeast region and considering the 100 per cent success rate of IDS, the zonal railway has decided to introduce it on other corridors as well and the Railway Ministry has sanctioned Rs 77 crore for it.

The system was the brainchild of then General Manager of NFR Anshul Gupta, who came to know about this technology 13 years ago while he was on a visit to London.

“I experimented it twice, once in 2011 and then in 2016 in different railway divisions but its successful implementation took place only in December 2022 when we launched this project in the 11 corridors,” Gupta, who retired in March 2023, said.

After his superannuation, Rajiv Mahajan, who was the then Chief Administrative Officer of Project (Mechanical), monitored the project and executed it successfully. Mahajan is currently Senior Deputy General Manager (SDGM) in the NFR.

“Intrusion Detection System for saving elephant lives” earned the Northeast Frontier Railway the PMI South Asia Award for Micro Project of the Year recently and this is for the first time ever that any zonal railway under the Ministry of Railways has bagged this award since its inception in 2009, Mr De said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)