Tackling pachyderm poaching in TN

Two years after reviewing a report submitted by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the rampant poaching of elephants in Tamil Nadu. The WCCB’s report revealed the involvement of people at multiple operational layers, but in all the cases, only those allegedly caught red-handed are in the police dragnet while the actual masterminds and the middlemen have never been identified or apprehended.

The court’s strongly-worded observation that “it is not a case of poaching for livelihood but of international trade and sadistic pleasure in creating art out of fellow living beings” reflects the stark deficit of humanity in the treatment of animals. The state authorities also came in for the judiciary’s reprimand for “feigning ignorance” of poaching for ivory.

The ruling is important for two reasons. One, it has always been intriguing that only male elephants were repeatedly getting “accidentally electrocuted”. Two, the tusks of these dead elephants have routinely been removed by poachers without the knowledge of authorities. 

The straying of wild animals into farmlands has also been a perennial problem and farmers have often resorted to illegally power-fencing their farms. But the gory face of humanity came to the fore this January when a 40-year-old ailing elephant was torched in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, sending shockwaves across the country.

This was only a continuation of the saga of pachyderms being killed in Tamil Nadu’s forests. According to the 2017 census, the state had over 2,700 elephants, as compared to the 4,015 in 2012. In the last year alone, more than 60 elephants have died. The need of the hour is not only a detailed CBI probe, but also a fast-track one to ensure the safety of the pachyderms in their habitat.