Elephants wreck tea gardens in India

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 15th October, 2008

A group of Indian elephants has wrought havoc in West Bengal tea gardens.

Around 40 elephants have caused mayhem in the Washabarie tea gardens after leaving the nearby forests to search for food.

According to residents, the elephants first appeared near the residence of tea garden workers.

The workers drove them away toward a nearby river but the elephants reappeared, causing massive damage to the gardens and nearby paddy fields.

The residents and workers fear venturing out into the tea gardens as they are concerned about being attacked by the elephants.

Animal activists have said the animals were forced to leave their natural habitat, which is dwindling due to human encroachment, to find food.

India has been struggling to tackle the problem of shrinking wildlife habitat due to encroachment by humans.

The man-animal conflict often ends with villagers killing elephants or vice versa

Wildlife experts say it is imperative to wean the people away from wildlife habitats by providing them alternative means of livelihood.

There has been a steady depletion of forestland in eleven major wildlife reserves since 1997.

According to a survey, only 20 per cent of India's land mass is forested and just 120,000 square kilometers, constituting less than four percent of the country, is suitable for elephants.

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