CHATTOGRAM, Jan 12: An acute dearth of food resulting from extensive disappearance of forest resources has kept lives of the wild elephants in jeopardy in the hilly areas of greater Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.
Habitat loss, forest degradation and encroachment upon forest reserves are forcing wild elephants to come down to human habitats in search of food, turning the increasing human-elephant conflict into a major conservation concern.
It is a common phenomenon that marauding elephants often swoop on the dwelling houses in the forests of Chattogram and Cox's Bazar hilly regions and kill residents of the localities.
On the other hand, elephants also get killed in the hands of local people in self-defense during counter attacks.
Sources said one elephant was injured on the night of October 13 last, when a special train from Cox's Bazar to Chattogram struck the animal near the protected Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary range in Lohagara, Chattogram. The elephant was crossing the rail line with a herd when it collided with the train, breaking its spine and severely injuring its back right leg.
The animal also suffered head trauma, leading to severe bleeding from its ears and trunk. Despite being taken to Dullahazra Safari Park in Chakaria upazila of Cox's Bazar for treatment, the elephant succumbed to injuries on October 15.
Meanwhile, the government has taken some pragmatic steps to save the wild elephants here in greater Chattogram.
Cox's Bazar special train's locomaster, Jamal Uddin, has been temporarily suspended following a tragic incident where a 10-year-old female elephant was killed by a train in the Chunati Sanctuary area of Cox's Bazar.
The railway authorities issued the suspension order on October 23 last. The BR also directed to limit train speeds to 20 km/h in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks on Chattogram-Cox's Bazar rail route.
On the other hand, a specialist committee has been formed to ensure the protection of elephants in the Korean Export Processing Zone (EPZ) area of Chattogram, under the initiative of Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The committee was formed based on a decision taken at a meeting held on 21 October last.
The deputy commissioner of Chattogram will lead the specialist committee, while other members include Professor Monirul H Khan of Jahangirnagar University, Professor Anwarul Islam of Dhaka University, a representative of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), two representatives from the Korean EPZ, Rubaiya Ahmed from Obhoyaronno (Bangladesh Animal Welfare Foundation), and the divisional forest officer of the Chattogram South Forest Division.
The divisional forest officer of the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division, Chattogram, will serve as the member secretary of the committee.
The committee will submit a report to the ministry within the next three weeks, containing specific recommendations to ensure a safe working environment for EPZ workers and to resolve human-elephant conflicts, sources said.
Facing a severe food crisis, elephants mostly come down to the localities in Anwara, Rangunia, Raojan, Rajasthali, Satkania, Lohagara, Banshkhali, Potiya and Boalkhali upazilas of Chattogram and Chakaria and Ramu upazilas and other hilly areas of Cox's Bazar.
The wild elephants usually damage paddy fields and homesteads in desperate search of food.
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