Ahead of World Elephant Day on August 12, the Wildlife SOS said that India lost at least 200 elephants in train collisions between 201-2020, or on average, 20 pachyderms run or knocked over on tracks.
India is home to more than half the world's Asian Elephant population, but these majestic animals are facing an epidemic as large as their size -- accidents and mortalities, caused by train collisions -- in several states where they abound.
The Wildlife SOS said that the Indian Railways spans 1,30,000 km of tracks across the country and there are around 150 elephant corridors spread in India.
A majority of the railway lines run through the vital elephant corridors, cutting the forest habitats in half and causing risks to the huge creatures.
"This fragmentation of habitat has made it difficult for the world's largest land animals to navigate their homes properly," the Wildlife SOS expressed concerns today.
It has cited examples of train accidents like December 2023 when an adult female elephant was killed while her female calf was left paralysed in her two hind limbs after a train hit in Haldwani in Uttarakhand, but the state's forest department officials managed to rescue her on time.
The calf, named Bani, is currently under treatment at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital in Mathura.
Her condition has prompted the organisation to launch an online petition to the Indian Railways to implement measures to protect this iconic species by reducing train speeds and implementing the latest technology to prevent such collisions on railway tracks in sensitive areas.
Wildlife SOS top brass Kartick Satyanarayan, Geeta Seshamani and Baiju Raj MV, said they have targeted 30,000 signatures to the petition to the Indian Railways, highlighting the serious threats to elephant habitat fragmentation and to help conserve the wild elephant population in the country.
The four south Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh together account for nearly 44 per cent of the total Indian elephant population in the wilds, estimated at over 27,000.
The other major states with high elephant numbers are -- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
Large wildfire in Southern California scorches nearly 4,000 acres
The large wildfire in Malibu in Southern California continues to burn and it has reached nearly 4,000 acres, according to the city authorities of Malibu.
Fresh snowfall in mountains, chilly winds lash J&K
Fresh snowfall occurred in higher reaches of Jammu & Kashmir as both minimum and maximum temperatures dropped further on Monday due to chilly winds sweeping across from snow-clad mountain tops.
In first in many decades, Shimla sees season’s first snowfall in early December
In a first in many decades, the Himachal Pradesh capital and its nearby tourist resorts on Sunday evening experienced the season’s first snowfall in early December, with the hospitality industry eyeing a surge of tourists.
Cyclone Fengal: Chennai Airport temporarily halts operations
The Chennai International Airport has temporarily shut down operations due to heavy rains as Cyclone Fengal approaches landfall. IndiGo Airlines announced that no flights would arrive or depart during this period which will continue till 1 P.M. on Saturday.
Delhi-NCR engulfed in thick smog as air quality deteriorates
A dense layer of smog shrouded Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday morning, sharply reducing visibility as the air quality plunged to "very poor" levels.
Delhi-NCR grapples with pollution as air quality dips
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi's AQI at 7:30 A.M. on Tuesday was 355, while surrounding NCR cities also recorded high AQI levels: Haryana's Faridabad was at 205, Gurugram at 234, while Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad was at 269, Greater Noida at 286, and Noida at 235.
Delhi's air quality in 'very poor' category, AQI over 400 in many areas
With the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading 409, the national Capital’s air remained in the ‘very poor’ category on Monday, while the air quality in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also remained a cause for concern.
Assam: 4 rhino poachers arrested in Darrang; arms, ammunition recovered
The Assam Police on Wednesday arrested four suspected rhino poachers at Orang National Park and recovered arms, ammunition and other materials from their possession, top police official said.