“UAVs used for the first time to locate a problematic animal in the wilds”
GUWAHATI: The Assam forest department is closely observing the movements of the rogue elephant, which trampled five persons to death in Goalpara district on Tuesday, after unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) spotted the tusk-less male elephant on Friday.
This is for the first time that the state forest department took resort to drones to locate a problematic elephant in the Kheropara reserve forest (Satabari) under Rongjuli range, which is about 15km north of the Goalpara-Guwahati highway.
“This is not the terror elephant, ‘Laden’ (the male tuskless elephant which had killed more than 30 people in the past two years), who we believe is no longer alive. This is a smaller elephant which has had no history of trampling any human to death till it killed five on Tuesday. Currently, we are keeping the agitated animal under observation,” chief conservator of forest, Akashdeep Baruah told The Shillong Times on Saturday.
Five persons, including a minor, were trampled to death in separate locations by the rampaging elephant within 24 hours at Matia in Goalpara district on Tuesday, triggering fear and fury among locals who even assembled to protest at the police station where the deceased were kept.
The forest department had in the aftermath of the incident, formed an eight-member committee of experts headed by the chief conservator of forest, to study and follow up the matter. Accordingly, the panel members visited the border district and held discussions with forest officials.
“The panel will discuss the matter on Monday and based on its recommendations, the department will take a call on the next course of action,” Baruah said.
Asked why it had to take resort to drones, the forest official said that it was dangerous to track a problematic elephant as this on foot. “Besides, sighting the animal inside a dense forest is difficult,” Baruah said.
The department has arranged domesticated elephants (kunkis) to follow and monitor the elephant’s movements closely.
A border district, Goalpara shares a contiguous forest with Garo hills with movement of elephants in the area common and man-elephant conflicts happening at regular intervals. Herds of elephants move around in the Rongjuli-Goalpara area after descending from neighbouring Garo Hills.
According to data placed in the Assam Assembly in February this year, the death toll in man-elephant conflicts in the state has crossed 1,000 since the year 2010 with 761 human casualties and 249 elephant deaths.