Under fire for hunting down two rogue elephants in the last month, West Bengal forest department has defended itself by saying they have saved not only human lives but also 8-10 jumbos.
"Last year alone, 14 elephants were killed by local people as a retaliatory step. Out of them ten were innocent. They were not rogues, but villagers electrocuted them out of fear and anger. To reduce this conflict, we had to take this unpleasant decision of hunting these elephants," state's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Pradeep Vyas told PTI.
He said by bringing down one or two rogue elephants, they had saved 8-10 elephants who would have otherwise been victims of retaliatory killing by villagers.
In separate incidents last month, two full-grown elephants, which were declared rogue after they were found attacking people and damaging property, were shot dead by forest personnel in Beliatore forest of Bankura district.
After the first incident on July 5, some forest officials had posed in front of the dead elephant signaling their victory over the pachyderm.
The department has now reprimanded them and issued instructions that in every such case, the ground officials should observe a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the dead wildlife, officials said.
One more elephant was declared rogue in Jhargram, but has now disappeared in the forests.
"As per provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the chief wildlife warden has all the power to take action against any rogue animal in case of a conflict situation. They need our permission only when they have to do something as part of a wildlife management strategy," Project Elephant director R K Srivastava said from Delhi.
