A successful translocation story, but a responsible local community could have added more value:

The fragmented landscape and shrunken habitats have forced the elephants to move close to the human habitation and agricultural fields for raiding the crops. Over the last two to three decades the conflict has intensified largely due to the growing population and urbanization. West Bengal functions as inter-state and inter-country elephant corridors at several points, both in South Bengal and North Bengal. On the 29th of April, one of the resident elephants of Bankura followed by two others entered Burdwan later at night. The lone tusker came very close to the human-inhabited area, Gourbajar in Paschim Burdwan. The next morning, it crossed the river Ajay and entered Purondarpur in Birbhum. The forest officials traced the elephant in Abinashpur and immediately constituted a tranquilizing team under the South-East circle. The team along with other forest officials raised an alert in the village through miking and closely monitored the movement of the elephant. The elephant was new to the locality and the local villagers never saw a wild elephant roaming around the village. The forest team constantly controlled the unruly mob and tried to retain the villagers in their houses. The Hullah team and the tranquilizing team were working together to track the elephant and tranquilize it. Shri K.P. Dey, a forest guard was busy controlling the mob. During such commotion, he was attacked by the elephant. The elephant hit him with its trunk repeatedly. Later, he succumbed to his injuries. The elephant was tranquilized and was taken to the Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve. However, even after that Mr. Kalyan Das along with the DFO Bardhaman, DFO Birbhum, and DFO Durgapur Division went to track the other elephants which were found staying at Aduria forest, an area very close to Ajay River. The team dedicatedly worked together to refrain the elephant from coming close to the locality. The early warning system started to raise an alert and finally, the elephant was tracked on the same route as the foregoing elephant. The forest team found two elephants and they tranquilized the two elephants. They were finally relocated to the Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve. Conservation is always comprehensive and has to be a joint effort between the forest department and the local communities. It is not always limited to the duty of the forest department. If the local crowd could have caused less ruckus, the forest guard would have not lost his life. The local communities, especially the villagers have to have more patience and faith in the frontline workers who risk their lives in saving their croplands, houses, and even their lives from the dangerous elephant raids. Nature Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS), as a conservation NGO, conveys our heartfelt gratitude to the brave heart and the full team for successfully carrying out the operation.   #Wildlife #ForestDepartmentWestBengal #IndianForestService #GovernmentofWestBengal #ForestGuard #ElephantsofBengal #ElephantRescue