Elephants: India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
2013-15: Slaughter in the south
The Times of India, Aug 13 2015
100 elephants killed in 2 years across south
Viju B & Oppili
Worst jumbo carnage since Veerappan run
Kunjumon has lived most of his adult life in the forests of Kerala -as a government watchman and then as a cook for poachers.That transition made little difference, he told cops. It was the killing of a baby elephant in 2014 that changed his life.In June 2015, the 62-yearold walked into a forest office and made his peace.
What emerged in the probe was a massive poaching operation for tusks (ivory) in not just Kerala, but neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well. Investigators in Kerala found that the gang had killed more than 20 elephants in 10 months, but forest officials told that the toll in the southern region in the past two years could be as high as 100. And this would be the gravest of periods for elephants in the south after forest brigand Veerappan was gunned down in 2004.
Investigations in the past two months point to a nexus of poachers and forest officers.Among the 40 people arrested so far is a forest range officer and a deputy range officer.They also found poachers' dens in the Vazhachal forest and at least 17 crude guns.“The officials would open the check posts for the poachers to cart away the ivory once the elephants were killed,“ said a senior vigilance official with the forest department.
In Tamil Nadu, officials found rampant poaching in Sathyamangalam and Mudumalai tiger reserves, and Bandipur in Karnataka. The mastermind, Aikaramatton Vasu, was found dead in a farmhouse in Dodamarg in Maharashtra. There was a suicide note as well.
