Staff Reporter
TURA, Feb. 06: Elephants crossing national highways may be a familiar sight in the Kaziranga area in Assam which is a protected sanctuary for wildlife. However, the same episode can also be witnessed near Tura town. The elephant haunt is just seven to eight km from Tura, enabling wildlife lovers and enthusiasts to watch the annual migration. All it requires is a little patience to wait the night out for whenever the stranded jumbos can, they stealthily attempt to cross over from Chasingre to Duragre at the foothills of Nokrek.
The pachyderms instead of coming out in December like they do every year, broke their migratory instincts this year to come out earlier. On November 18, 2009, a herd arrived from Duragre range crossing over NH 52. They went back the same way when threatened by a gunshot from a muzzle loading which could be heard by residents adjoining the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Thura campus. Again on January 3, 2010, a herd of five pachyderms crossed over to the campus. Residents could hear the trumpeting sounds at around 5 pm that Sunday. Villagers reported that two more herds crossed over and camped inside the campus. Then, on the night of January 16 last, one herd ransacked a teashop belonging to one Bittu marak, a resident of Chasingre village inside the campus.
Villagers who witnessed the incident reported that the pachyderms were ‘mongma bones’ or dwarf elephants. The ‘mongma bones’ roamed the Ranggira range a long time ago and may have returned to their traditional haunts to follow the long trodden and now dangerous elephant migratory path to the Nokrek range. It has become ‘dangerous’ in the sense that their path has now been barricaded by electric fencing and human habitats.
On 26 January this year, our nation’s Republic Day, a herd of elephants were again sighted camping inside the campus above the RDAP building. The herd was again seen as it attempted to cross over to the Duragre side but failed because of heavy traffic plying night and day to and from Rongram and Tura. They may also have been hindered by the presence of a baby elephant in their fold. The same herd has wrecked havoc inside the campus by damaging the water Syntex kept for storing water on the hilltop above the RDAP building. It may be a sign of rage displayed by the herd since the site was their favorite haunt where elephants could be seen sunbathing, not so long ago before the reserve was opened for construction of the campus. The herd is still stranded inside the campus near the NH. They may try to cross over tonight before or after the Shillong-Tura night service starts. Having a baby elephant in its fold may be the reason for their reluctance to cross over.
At any given day one can find at least four to five herds inside the campus. Now this contradicts what experts have known and acknowledged for long. This peculiar behavior may be attributed to the fact that due to extensive habitat loss caused by encroachment and deforestation, the pachyderms have retreated to the only safe place they have known for long, the area that is presently being constructed into NEHU, Tura campus.
This may be one of the last journeys of these gentle giants through the campus. On the other hand, this may be a chance of a lifetime for elephant lovers to watch it live and not on Discovery or National Geographic or other nature-based channels.
Elephants were used by man in his quest for earlier conquests and were also vehicles for modern development in the North East. Elephants helped man conquer marshes, mountains and forests. Roads, railroads, tea gardens, oil wells, settlements - all needed elephants in their initial phase.
The main elephant catching area for the British was Garo Hills and Arunachal Pradesh. Later, it transferred to Burma as the herds were depleted in Garo Hills. Garo Hills was also well known through time immemorial as one of the main sources of elephants for the great Indian market. In has been mentioned in various writings with the most famous in modern times being the story of Jungle Book written by Rudyard Kipling. It is the place of the mythological site of the elephant grave and at one time was teeming with these magnificent creatures. Garo Hills also had the highest density of wild elephants in India. I do not know if it still holds this position.
Unfortunately, in spite of this great history, elephants in Garo Hills are in danger of extinction. Today, they have been driven to living in patches of secondary forests and old jhum fields. Their walks (paths) are cut off by so-called modern development and they cannot migrate seasonally to their traditional feeding grounds. Herds are becoming smaller and isolated leading to a weakening of their gene pool due to inbreeding.
The classic example of the elephant walk being blocked is the vast campus of the Meghalaya II Battalion in Goeragre near Tura, which was built right on an elephant walk. For a few years, they kept coming to the campus but as more settlements came up around the battalion’s headquarter, they took an alternative route containing nice bamboo forests and a salt lick (a·sim). Unfortunately, one fine day a wire fence reinforced by cement pillars blocked them. This was the second campus of NEHU and it has completely isolated this group of elephants. This institute that is supposed to bring learning and education to the Garo community is wiping out the rich cultural heritage that the Garo’s and the elephants share. It is indeed a shame that this very institute that is encouraging research on and in Garo Hills, is also playing a role in erasing the foundation of so many folklores and cultural adaptations of the Garos, adaptations which helped them to coexist with these gentle creatures. It is also disregarding the history and heritage of Garo Hills with regard to its immense and rich wildlife population, concentrating only on one, just one creature called man.
The elephants in protest have been breaking down these fences every year. The villages around the campus are being troubled with the elephants moving around fields and forests. And there is fear and apprehension. In our craving to become modern, we are losing touch with our past. We will be in a position where we can fly and see the world but in doing so we will never be able to land.
To stop these elephants, the NEHU authorities plan to erect an electric fence around its seven kilometre boundary and they have also resolved to undertake this project themselves. If what the Pro – VC, NEHU, SS Khare while speaking to the media persons true then they have already erected a three kilometre electric fence as a safe guard against elephant depredation outside their boundaries overlooking Chibagre.
Khare had said that the electric fence gave out 16,000 volts of charge in bursts of miliseconds and that the charges were only meant to scare the pachyderms away. SN Sangma, the Divisional Forest Officer, West Garo Hills, while speaking to this reporter, confirmed what Khare had said, stating that the electric fence was only to scare the pachyderms away and not injure or harm them in anyway, at least physiologically.
This tactic, however, does not seem to be working as the pachyderms have become all the more bolder, periodically destroying the electric fence time and again in their rage of being unnecessarily hurt by the electric charges.
What a contradiction! Is not it time that the NEHU officials took lessons from the Garo traditions on how to live with elephants? The irony of the matter is has NEHU ever felt the need to actually think of the elephants, have they commissioned any research to actually understand the problem, or is their view purely a one-sided ‘Get rid of the elephants!’. If the elephants of Meghalaya are to be saved, we all have to act now. There is no tomorrow. These great creatures have been used by man and now are we all willing to sacrifice them at the altar of what we call “development”?
Is it too late to reclaim this natural heritage and are concerned authorities turning a blind eye and not recognising the real worth of preserving this natural migratory route of the Indian elephants? Will Garo Hills, once a proud and indisputable haunt of one of the most intelligent mammals on earth, turn into nothing but memories to be told over lunch or dinner or will concerned authorities (Forest Department, Wildlife Department and so on) take a step forward to help the hapless denizens of the forests of A·chik land.