Green Options

Officials from elephant range states are meeting in Delhi this week in hopes of finding a solution to the growing number of elephant killings in India.

Loss of habitat leading to an increase of conflicts between elephants and humans, combined with the invasion of poachers into government-protected zones, are resulting in an unacceptable increase in elephant deaths in India.

To address this issue, officials from India’s elephant range states are gathering in Delhi this week.

Despite ongoing efforts to protect Kaziranga’s precious wildlife, poachers have managed to kill a rhino and a leopard inside the park.

Kaziranga park officials were dismayed to discover the carcass of a female rhino with her horn chopped out. She was found in the park’s Bagori range, near the western part of the Dimoli forest camp.

Less than 24 hours earlier, a female leopard’s carcass was found in the Kohora range, near the Mikirjam forest camp.

Forest officials have arrested three suspected poachers involved with last weekend’s rhino killing in Kaziranga National Park.

The arrest of three poachers is the latest development in last weekend’s shootout in Kaziranga between forest guards and poachers. The trio was captured in Nagaon as they were trying to escape through the Karbi Anglong district.

Two of the men are Paites from Manipur and the other a Guite from Karbi Anglong district’s Manja area. They were handed over to the police and are being held in Assam.

A gun battle broke out between forest officials and poachers in Kaziranga National Park after the killing of a tiger, rhino, and elephant.

In the span of just a few days, poachers managed to kill a tiger, rhino, and elephant in India’s Kaziranga National Park. Despite an exchange of bullets between forest officials and poachers, the poachers escaped.

Wildlife officials in India’s Kaziranga National Park discover grass laced with poisoned salt - the latest attempt by poachers to kill rhino.

Unfortunately, five cattle have died after consuming grass laced with poison salt hear the edge of Kaziranga National Park. The deaths happened in the Baghmari area near the Burapaha range - and authorities believe the poison was actually meant for the park’s rhino.

Forest guards in India’s Kaziranga National Park might be closer to getting the weapons - and permissions - they need to fight poachers.

New Delhi has been asked by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (WHC) to step up anti-poaching efforts in Kaziranga National Park, where a greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) was recently killed. According to the Times of India, resource requests are likely to include acquisition of stronger equipment for forest officials, such as powerful firearms and night vision tools, as well as increased financial support. There is also an emphasis on local community involvement - important because poachers tempt locals with financial rewards to assist them in their killings of the park’s protected species.

A recent study hopes its findings are enough to safeguard a small population of Ganges River Dolphins from Oil India Ltd.’s recent proposal to deploy seismic exploration activities along the bed of the Brahmaputra River.

The Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) has a tenuous population at best - with possibly just 2,000 overall.

And with only an estimated 264 dophins in the entire Brahmaputra River system, this population is at risk of becoming another Karnali River disaster - where now just six Ganges River Dolphins remain - if protective measures are not put into place.

Although a proposal by Oil India Ltd. prospect for oil along the bed of the Brahmaputra threatens to decimate this species even further, an extensive report submitted by Dr. Abdul Wakid to the IUCN hopes to establish protected areas for the Ganges River Dolphins in the Brahmaputra river system - before it’s too late.

… a recent proposal by Oil India Ltd. to initiate seismic exploration (using explosives and airguns) along the bed of the Brahmaputra River to prospect for oil has potentially disastrous implications for Ganges River dolphins.