Death of an elephant

Death of an elephant

By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

Bound and left to die

A young Indian bull elephant captured in a state-sponsored management programme has died a gruesome death.

The animal had its tusks removed, and then suffered 18 days of neglect before it died.

The elephant's treatment and death were filmed by a television crew commissioned to cover the management programme.

Conservationists say there are many better ways to prevent conflict between humans and elephants.

The elephant was captured under a programme funded by the government of the central state of Chattisgarh, which tries to reduce conflict by seizing displaced wild elephants and taming them as working animals.

The cameraman, Amalendu Mishra, said: "The elephant was first lassoed in the night of 5 February after being made to run a long distance to tire it out.

"It was again shot at with tranquiliser darts the following morning. Once it collapsed, they tied a thick rope around its neck and pulled it away flanked by tame elephants."

Human contact

Witnesses say the elephant was repeatedly jabbed with spikes and struck with bamboo canes.

His legs were tied with ropes, while others were attached to the lasso around his neck and tightened to ensure his head could not move. Then his tusks were sawn off with a hacksaw.

He was left without food and water, and died 18 days later, apparently of stress, starvation and thirst.

Its body was mutilated

The crew's director, Mike Pandey, said: "We were horrified at what was being done in the guise of scientific management of elephant populations and were forced to watch this medieval torture till the elephant died."

The film his crew shot is being distributed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) and its Indian partner, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).

WTI says a report on the capture programme commissioned from it by the government had concluded that it was unnecessary.

Vivek Menon of WTI said its report had been ignored. He said: "This primitive and archaic elephant capture method should be abandoned.

"There are humane methods available today that ensure the minimum amount of stress to animals while in human contact.

"Those responsible for this abuse of animals are in direct violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. They should be brought to justice."

Subsistence agriculture

Ifaw says a project it is working on with the Chinese authorities to minimise human-elephant conflict is succeeding so well it is being adopted into China's national elephant conservation plan.

Ifaw says there are better ways to deal with conflict

Across much of the Asian elephant's range, it says, increases in human numbers are depleting the area of natural habitat the animals rely on.

Between 28,000 and 48,000 Asian elephants are estimated to remain in the wild.

WTI says: "The elephants have strayed out of their heavily-disturbed habitat in the neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Orissa, where human encroachments and tree-felling are rampant.

"Unable to find safe havens, they have migrated to the forests of Chattisgarh which are surrounded by hamlets dependent on subsistence agriculture.

"So the elephants have taken to crop-raiding to supplement their diets, leading to intense human-animal conflicts. At least 35 people have been killed in the region in the last six months."