Wild elephants dying of natural death or in man-animal conflict such as electrocution might not be incinerated or buried as has been the present norm. Instead, their carcass will be left in the open for natural decomposition and scavengers to feed on since they are an important source of energy and nutrients for predators.
However, those who are found poisoned, as confirmed by their post-mortem report, will continue to be buried, a senior official from the Union Environment Ministry said about the Government’s plan to tweak the current rules. “Once it is done, a notification will be issued in this regard soon for the States to follow the new norms,” he added.
In fact, Kerala has already taken a lead in this direction and way back in April had issued instructions to its forest officials to leave open the body of the wild elephants in the natural ambiance of the green habitat so that it can be decomposed on its own. Usually, huge earth has to be dug to bury the elephants which are mostly around 3000 kg in weight.
“Earlier a wild elephant after its death due to any reason used to be buried or burnt along with its tusks after its post-mortem. But now, if it is found to be succumbed due to natural causes or in conflicts like a rail hit or electrocution, the body will be left in the jungles so that other animals can feed on it. However, if found poisoned, then it will be buried so that other animals do not eat the poison-laced body,” the official added.
He said that there have been incidents as captured by cameras, even tigers have been found to scavenge on megaherbivores like jumbos. Experts say that elephant carcasses provide various animals including tigers with easy availability of large quantum of biomass and also help them save the energy needed for hunting species like Sambar deer and spotted deer.
Elephants are increasingly becoming vulnerable because of the loss and degradation of their natural habitat. Many ventures closer to human settlements in search of food, and some are killed by poachers or farmers angry over damage to their crops.
At least 45 elephants were killed on railway tracks between 2019 and 2021, as per government data.
As per the last count in 2017, India has 29,964 elephants. According to Government data, on average, 500 people are killed annually by elephants, and about 100 elephants are killed in retaliation.
