Page 27 - Demo
P. 27
Below: Immobilized tuskers
Driving of problem elephants to larger habitat patches is widely practiced in West Bengal to tackle elephants in human use areas. Immobilization and translocations are undertaken only in case of acute conflict situations involving human fatalities or in situations where safely driving elephants is not possible. Adult and sub-adult bulls are found to be responsible for conflicts in about 77% cases.
West Bengal has a long history of immobilization and relocation of problem bulls or declared “Rogues”. A total of 18 identified “problem” bulls were restrained with immobilizing drugs and translocated in 16 instances from 1988 to 2020 in West Bengal in an attempt to save both elephant and human lives and properties and mitigate HEC. The first transboundary translocation in India was done in 2004, when two tuskers strayed from West Bengal to Bangladesh. West Bengal FD immobilized both the tuskers and successfully brought them back to India and released them in North Bengal.
27
