<p>Order of the High Court of Kerala in the matter of Sangita Iyer Vs Guruvayur Devasom & Others dated 17/02/2025.</p> <p>The Kerala High Court directed the Deputy Administrator (Livestock) of Guruvayoor
MUSHALPUR
Besides poaching, loss of habitat, toxins cause deaths It is not just India's national animal tiger which is in danger at the hands of poachers in the country. Officials figures suggest that the future of other animals in the wild - elephants, rhinos and critically-endangered gharials - is also not so safe despite efforts being put in by the Centre and state governments. Between December 2007 and February 2008, as many as 105 gharials have been reported dead. However, the reason for the decline in their numbers is attributed to possibility of nephro-toxin entering the food chain and loss of habitat due to illegal sand mining. Official records reveal that in the past three years, the number of poaching cases related to elephants has been steadily rising. During 2004-05, 18 elephants were poached, during 2005-06, the number of dead tuskers was 16 and in 2006-07, it increased up to 23. The 2007 Census said there are 18,663 elephants in the country, minus the Northeastern states. Similar has been the case with rhinos. As per the information released by the Assam Government, 18 rhinos were poached in 2007 and four rhinos have already fallen prey to the poachers' greed till date in 2008 in the Kaziranga National Park and adjacent areas in Assam. Regarding the critically endangered gharials, the MoEF said that as per the last Census in 2007, the number of gharials in National Chambal Sanctuary is 1457, Son Gharial Sanctuary 106, Ken Gharial Sanctuary 12 and Katerniaghat Sanctuary 70 to 80. About 105 gharials have been reported dead between December 2007 and February 2008. While no particular reason can be attributed to their mortality, the possibility of nephro-toxin entering via the food-chain cannot be ruled out, officials say, adding that another reason has been the loss of habitat due to illegal sand mining. The Central Government has taken several initiatives, including constitution of multidisciplinary Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau (Wildlife Crime Control Bureau) comprising officers from the police, forest, customs and other enforcement agencies to effectively control illegal trade in wildlife. The government is also providing financial and technical assistance to state governments under the various Centrally sponsored schemes - Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries, Project Tiger and Project Elephant. State governments too claim to be taking measures, including increase in patrolling and coordination with other law enforcing agencies, which clearly are not enough. And it is not just poaching that wild animals are at risk with. As per information available, four tigers and 21 elephants were killed due to train and road accidents during the past three years in the 514 wildlife sanctuaries in the country.
The census of elephant and golden langoor is going on in the Ripun reserve forest under Kachugaon division in Kokrajhar district. In the census carried out in Central and Raimana range it pegged a total count of 125 elephants and 650 golden langoors, sources added. Speaking to the Sentinel RN Boro, DFO, Kachugaon said there were four ranges under Kachugaon division
An 18-year-old elephant was found dead on the banks of the Bhavani in the Periyanaickenpalayam range, 40 km from here, on Friday. A team led by veterinarian N.S. Manoharan and Range Officer Panneerselvam, after a post-mortem, suspected bacterial infection.
Pretoria: South Africa said on Monday that it will start killing elephants in order to reduce their burgeoning numbers, ending a 13-year ban and possibly setting a precedent for other African nations. Environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the government was left with no choice but to reintroduce killing elephants "as a last option and under very strict conditions' to reduce environmental degradation and rising conflicts with humans. There will be no "wholesale slaughter,' he told reporters. The announcement follows months of impassioned debate, with some conservationists arguing for elephant killings to protect the ecosystem, and animal welfare groups outraged at the prospect of slaughtering one of the planet's most intelligent and self-aware creatures. South Africa has been hugely successful in protecting its elephant population, once on the verge of extinction in parts of the country. But it has become a victim of its own success. The number of elephants, which have no natural predators other than humans, is growing at a rate of more than 5% a year and is expected to double by 2020. The big white hunter in the 1800s brought Africa's elephants near to extinction. Now South Africa, Namibia and Botswana have booming populations because of conservation efforts, while those of east and west African nations are struggling because of large-scale poaching. AP
The Jorhat Forest Division has begun an elephant count in the district from today. Assistant Conservator of Forests Gunin Saikia said that the exercise would continue for five days and would cover three forest reserves
The forest guards who had accompanied the 110-strong herd of jumbos, which had left a trail of death and destruction in three districts, up to the Kaziranga National Park (KNP), had breathed a sigh of relief too soon. Hardly had one week elapsed when the herd split and 70 per cent of the mammoths are wending their way back wreaking havoc in their wake. Yesterday night, 14 huts were destroyed at Dainigaon near Nimatighat.
BOKAKHAT, Feb 17
The Government has formulated guidelines for mercy killing of elephants suffering from debilitating injury in a bid to relieve the animal from pain and distress. The move has come in the wake of the case of Arundhati, an aging elephant which died after suffering for long due to a fractured leg in Uttrakhand late last year. While authorities debated over the mercy killing, the pachyderm went through severe agony in the process and died before it could be put to sleep.
The Assam Police today arrested three suspected wildlife poachers involved in illegal trade in wildlife organs from a hotel in Diphu, the district headquarters town of Karbi Anglong hill district, and recovered five pieces of ivory from their possession. Karbi Anglong additional superintendent of police (ASP) N.N. Goswami, who led the operation, informed that acting on a tip-off that traders in wildlife organs were camping in Diphu looking for buyers, the police set up decoys as buyers to track them.
