Uttarakhand elephants eating plastic, glass, wires: Study

DEHRADUN: A recent study, conducted by a group of researchers from several leading national institutions, has found an alarming presence of plastic, glass and metal in the dung samples of Asian elephants in Uttarakhand.
The study, titled ‘Plastic ingestion in Asian elephants in the forested landscape of Uttarakhand’, added that “out of 75 elephant dung samples, 24 had a significant proportion of plastic”.
Uttarakhand is home to nearly 2,000 jumbos.
Divulging some of the findings of the study, Gitanjali Katlam, an ecological researcher who is the lead author of the study, told TOI, “About 32% of dung samples had anthropogenic waste. In this anthropogenic waste, 85% had plastic content. Some even had a whole plastic bag.”