Elephants clash with people as forests shrink

Deforestation leads to raids on farmland by hungry elephants and 300 people die each year in India alone, the World Wildlife Fund says

GLAND (Switzerland) - Asia's 35,000 to 50,000 surviving elephants are being squeezed into increasingly smaller woodland areas, turning them into a menace to people living in that territory, said a well-known wildlife conservation group.

Asian elephants are at risk by poachers who want their tusks, and farmers protecting their land.

'As clearance of forests for settlement and agriculture escalates, traditional elephant migration routes are disrupted, leading to violent clashes when hungry elephants raid crops,' a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report released on Monday said.

'As a result, hundreds of people are killed by elephants in Asia every year, with up to 300 deaths in India alone,' it added.

Ms Elisabeth Kemf, spokesman for species preservation, said: 'Of the 35,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants that cling to survival, most of these are being squeezed into increasingly smaller woodland areas.

'The elephant which is a lovable, if not revered animal for the world at large, has become a menace for many living in its territory.'

The report said that animals are being poisoned by plantation workers, shot by angry farmers, and killed for their meat, hide and tusks.

Poaching is a major threat to the species, severely affecting the sex ratio in some areas, especially southern India, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Two years ago, poachers in Cambodia slaughtered so many bull elephants for their tusks that the country was thinking of importing bulls from Laos.

The WWF is calling on governments to take steps to ensure that national and transnational companies exploiting natural resources in elephant ranges comply with national legislation regarding biodiversity protection.

The report said it would 'also like to see stronger enforcement of regulations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)'.

Strict anti-poaching measures should be established throughout elephants' ranges, it urged.

'Ensuring the long-term survival of the Asian elephant will cost money,' the organisation warned. --AFP