Elephant Dies While Trying to Cross Railway Fence Near Nagarhole

The death of the tusker sparked outrage on Twitter, with animal lovers calling the incident ‘a shame on humanity.’

A male elephant died while trying to cross over the railway fence in Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka on Saturday, 15 December.

The examination of the site indicated that the elephant tried to heave itself out of the situation but its diaphragm was crushed by its own weight, KM Narayanaswamy, the Conservator of Forests and Director of Nagarhole National Park told The Hindu.

The railway fence was erected along parts of the park to minimise man-animal conflict and to prevent elephants from crossing over to the human settlements. The tusker which was around 42 years old had entered human habitation and raided an agricultural field the previous night, the report said, adding that the animal was being chased out of the village, but could not get into forest, over the fence.

Anger, Sadness Over Tusker’s Death

The gruesome death of the wild tusker sparked outrage on Twitter, with animal lovers calling the incident ‘a shame on humanity’ and protesting the barricading of forests.

When we block #elephant passages, THIS happens. so heartbroken. The fencing around #Nagarahole #tiger reserve #Karnataka has killed this elephant, even as f government & even some scientists claim does no harm. My Supreme court PIL is opposing such fencing around #forests pic.twitter.com/x6waHbmqwT

— prerna singh bindra (@prernabindra) December 15, 2018

Died while crossing railway fences near Nagarhole. This happens when we block path which are used by these animals from generations. When we want infrastructure in middle of their homes. With no fault of their own. pic.twitter.com/oiNqmXxA5s

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) December 15, 2018

it is so sad that we do the wrong things, costing our environment loss of such graceful intelligent and wise beings that hold rich knowledge and understanding of natural processes. shame on humanity #elephants #humananimalconflict #nagarhole #natureculturedivide #physicalbarriers https://t.co/qRzM68beM4

— Deepta (@DeeptaSateesh) December 15, 2018

Some were of the opinion that it was high time we took animals into consideration while formulating policies.

Shocking story from village Bhartawadi, near Nagarhole tiger reserve. Intelligent that they are, the elephant god had found ways to cross the elephant proof sleeper barricading(?) to be killed now. Let’s not fragment their habitat by Road & Railway lines.Time to act decisively. pic.twitter.com/JPtr43jzRs

— susanta nanda IFS (@susantananda3) December 15, 2018

Not the First Time...

In November this year, a tusker aged around 35 to 40 years was found gored to death by another wild elephant in the same range, in Nagarhole National Park. In Sakleshpur taluk, one elephant had succumbed to death after being rescued by forest officials and another had died in Lakkavali Range of Bhadra Tiger Reserve.

An elephant of the Matthigodu Elephant Camp in Nagarhole, ‘Rowdy Ranga’ died after being hit by a private bus in October.

But according to a November report in The New Indian Express, the state forest department said the percentage of deaths of elephants/tigers is normal, and the mortality rate is not more than 3 percent.

“Usually a mortality of 10 percent is expected. So there is nothing to worry. Only when an elephant is electrocuted or a tiger is poached, it is a matter of concern. Both Bandipur and Nagarhole have a high density of tigers/elephants. So our worry is high density and less space,” C Jayaram, Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka told The New Indian Express.

(With inputs from Arun Dev)