How to save elephants? -Last year, two elephants died from human-inflicted injuries in our area, but the challenge is- how to protect elephants from accidents and injuries in the future.
Elephants that come into our area from the surrounding forest need some basic things when they are with us. All they need is a place to rest, a source of food like leaves and fruit, and a water source nearby. Although they can find shelter and water in many places along the way, the most important thing is to protect elephants from people.
You must be wondering why they need to protect themselves from people. Let me show you why.
How to protect wild elephants in a tea garden.
On 24-August-2021, we got a call from Pomindar. He told us a small herd of wild elephants was taking shelter in their tea garden.
It was 1:30 in the afternoon when we reached Ramjuli. We saw a group of tea workers harvesting tea buds from the plants. It is the first step towards making tea, and it is a labor-intensive job that requires skill and experience. At that time, Dharmendra was overseeing plucking tea near the area where the herd of elephants was taking refuge.
There were four elephants in the herd, one adult female (matriarch), one baby, and two juveniles; it was a family group.
As a community volunteer with our elephant monitoring group, Dhormindor sends us regular updates about the presence of wild elephants in and around Ramjuli. Within populated areas, we must educate residents like Dharmindar on how to save elephants.
Elephant habitat is decreasing, how to protect them?
Ramjuli is a lovely tea garden with a stunning landscape. The tea garden has been in operation since 1884. The elephants were near the river, which is the western boundary of this pretty tea garden. On the other side of the river is a wildlife sanctuary. Last night, the herd crossed the river and arrived at the location.
Ideally, these elephants should find all the food and water they need from their habitat, known as wildlife sanctuaries, reserves, or national parks. But they are losing their habitat due to severe human pressures on the forests, whether they are wildlife sanctuaries, reserve forests, or national parks. The places like Ramjuli were a part of their natural habitat before 1884.
The matriarch elephant appeared tired, but she was alert because people were working near the location. She was trying to take a nap while standing, but when humans are present, elephants are never relaxed.
People have altered the natural habitats of elephants in this region, so they come close to people to find what they need. Elephants and the people who share their resources are not at ease, and some people refer to it as Human-elephant conflict.
The presence of wild elephants in the tea gardens attracts locals from nearby villages and tea gardens, but watching them from a distance is not the same as invading their space and causing them discomfort.
About 2:30 in the afternoon, a wild chase began.
Until about 2:30 p.m., everything was quiet and normal. At around 2:45 p.m., several people gathered in the area, and one started whistling at the herd. Eventually, some adolescents and youngsters joined in and began approaching the elephants, followed by two motorcyclists. The teenagers on the motorbikes were drunk. It only took a few minutes for the entire party to start screaming at the elephant herd, and the drunks began honking their horns near the elephants.
The terrified elephants attempted to evade the people by going to the south of the tea garden, but people remained unreasonable and trailed the herd.
When the elephants realized that those people wouldn’t allow them to stay at one spot, they started charging at them. Initially, the mother tried two to three false charges but was exhausted after a short while. As a result, the adolescent female assumed responsibility for the task.
I encountered elephant charges several times while visiting the tea gardens to observe wild elephants. However, I’ve never seen such outrageous charges before! She was furious, and her assaults were unusually long.
How can you save elephants when they are cursed!
Recently, I came across a viral video, the elephants in the video were crossing a road peacefully near a tea garden. Several people taunted the elephants, and one elephant reacted; the elephant chased them and annihilated one person in front of the camera.
Fortunately, no one got injured. A person frightened by the elephants said, ‘ These elephants are peaceful, they do not charge like this; one of the kids might have cursed the elephants, and that’s why they are causing such trouble.’
Contrary to what he said, I observed all signs of tension among the herd. Since they arrived at the location, they have not eaten or slept for 24 hours.
In addition, everyone around them was acting stupidly. People irritated them, they encircled the herd on all sides, so they failed to behave normally.
A disoriented elephant calf among the people.
The baby elephant seemed disoriented in the situation. Because he was worried, he kept placing his trunk in his mouth. The baby was also trying to stay close to his mother at all times. However, because of the chase, it was forced to run with the herd.
These tea gardens are on flat land, so the management digs many trenches in the garden to drain rainwater because stagnant water is bad for the tea plants. Young elephants that are not used to navigating uneven ground are particularly vulnerable to the trenches. These tranches are about two feet wide and three feet deep. In such uncontrolled chases, these trenches can cause baby elephants to fall and break their legs. Such accidents can even kill young elephants or separate them from their herds.
The drama lasted a long time, started around 2:30 p.m., and ended about 5:30 p.m., and pretty much the entire time, the elephants had to rush or wander from one section of the tea garden to another. It was exhausting for the animals.
Can you spread awareness among people about how to save elephants in tea gardens?
Ideally, as tea drinkers, we should request the tea industry to make the tea gardens safer for elephants.
Would you mind sharing your thoughts about it?