Eight elephants had been killed by poisoning in the State this year, State Environment and Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma informed the Assembly on Thursday while presenting the data on man-elephant conflict.
This was six more than the number of elephants killed in 2016-17, according to the Minister.
Patches of paddy fields drenched with common pesticides claimed 26 jumbos in Sonitpur district in 2002 – but wildlife activists have found a fairly new method of killing the animals by poisoning rice beer or fermented rice for producing liquor.
Many villages in Assam use rice to make liquor, for which the State government wants geographical indication tag. Elephants that raid villages are known to develop a taste for this liquor.
Official numbers
Replying to a question by BJP legislator Ranoj Pegu, the Minister said elephants had since 2016 claimed 149 human lives, damaged 3,546 houses and destroyed crops on 1,880.7 hectares. Rs. 2.35-crore was paid as compensation to the survivors of the victims, she added. She did not provide data on elephant casualty, which including train-hits, that was estimated to be at least 45 since April 2016.
“Mass poisoning of elephants was localised, mainly in Sonitpur district earlier. But this has spread to most areas of Assam where people have encroached upon elephant corridors,” Bhaskar Choudhury of Wildlife Trust of India told The Hindu.
“Apart from using live wires on tracks used by elephants, villagers are poisoning crop with organochlorine group of chemicals as well as lacing fermented rice or liquor with odourless, tasteless and soluble toxins,” he said.
Assam has an estimated elephant population of 5,700, the second highest after Karnataka.
Hope for river dolphins
Replying to a question on ‘sihu’ or Gangetic river dolphin by Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed, Ms. Brahma said parts of river Brahmaputra adjoining Kaziranga National Park and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park have been conserved for the aquatic animal.
The Brahmaputra and tributaries such as Kulsi near Chhaygaon, about 50km west of Guwahati, sustain less than 1,000 river dolphins categorised as a Schedule 1 animal under Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
Ms. Brahma admitted sand-mining in smaller rivers are a threat to the sihus. “The river dolphins prefer deeper stretches for nesting. As such, we have allowed mining of sand only in stretches that are 3-5 ft deep,” she said.
Sand mining is governed by Assam Minor Mineral Concession Rule of 2013.
Environmentalists say illegal machines used to extract sand pose a threat to the river dolphins, though the animal is mostly killed by fishermen for its oil used as fish bait.
