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Developmental Human Interface Due

to Train Collision of Asian Elephant
(Elephas Maximus) in Western Circle
Fores...
Parag Dhakate
Environment & Ecosystem Science

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Railways and Wildlife: A Case St udy of Train-Elephant Collisions in Nort hern West Bengal, India
MUKT I ROY
 Environment & Ecosystem Science (EES)3(2) (2019) 17-19

Environment & Ecosystem Science (EES)

DOI : http://doi.org/10.26480/ees.02.2019.17.19

ISSN: 2521-0882 (Print)

ISSN: 2521-0483 (Online)
CODEN: EESND2

RESEARCH ARTICLE
DEVELOPMENTAL HUMAN INTERFACE DUE TO TRAIN COLLISION OF ASIAN
ELEPHANT (ELEPHAS MAXIMUS) IN WESTERN CIRCLE FOREST DIVISION,
UTTARAKHAND, INDIA
Vimalraj Padayatchiar Govindan*, Parag Madhukar Dhakate and Ayush Uniyal

Uttarakhand Forest Department, Western Circle, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India

*Corresponding Author E-mail: [email protected]

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT

Article History: Relation between elephant and man in India is ancient; no other animal had such a close association with the human.
Pre mature elephant deaths by train collision, electrocution and drowning were common nowadays and painful
Received 01 August 2019 disturbances in elephant population due to conflict have been described more from time to time in the outlying areas
Accepted 04 September 2019 of all over India and in Uttarakhand apart from poisoning, gunfire, forest fire, diseases etc. This research paper
Available online 12 September 2019 communicates in detail cases of elephant conflict death, its root cause and its preventive actions.

KEYWORDS

Asian elephant, Train Collision, Agriculture, Conflict, Uttarakhand.

1. INTRODUCTION In this current research work communicates, train collision of elephants

due to human developmental interface and its impact on elephant and
India is one of the countries with serious problems of train– elephant/ mitigation measures like locations of collision/ accident area,
wildlife collisions. This is because the Indian Railways (IR) is one of the understanding patterns of accidents, correlating to season, mapping
world’s largest railway networks, comprising 115,000 km of tracks over a elephant crossing points and their movements along the railway track and
route of about 65,000 km and 7500 stations. In 2015–2016, IR transported by providing suggestions for reducing the incidence of accidents.
more than 22,000,000 passengers and 3,000,000 tons of freight daily.
Furthermore, the Indian Railway network cuts across various forested 2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
landscapes, and its impact on wildlife and their habitats has been a matter
of increasing concern [1]. In the present study, we found that the accidental train hits of wild
elephants were more common during rainy season (August to October)
Death is a natural biological phenomenon that used to happen to every and always in the late night or early morning, which may be due to their
living organism, it might be human or animal. But, wild animals by virtue normal quest to meet their daily, seasonal and annual biological needs of
of their less intellect compared to human being are more vulnerable to food, water, shelter and mates which in turn leads to a conflict death in the
premature death [2]. modern India [6,7].

Increasing population in the recent past raised the demand for more land Previous researchers documented that there was an uneven distribution
for developmental activities and agriculture. The fragmentation and loss of accidents during the annual cycle, with peaks during the crop cultivation
of wildlife habitat pushes wild animal especially elephant close to the seasons and broad gauge allows trains to reach higher velocities, making
human population and thus increasing the human-elephant interface [3]. it harder for elephants to avoid a moving train [8-10]. Many conflict death
occurring in the same areas and none in others because of the routine
The elephant is the largest living animal in the terrestrial environment, migration. Also found that adult males were killed more often than other
therefore, they need enough space and food to sustain their lives, but age groups and nearly three times higher than that expected because adult
presently available forest cover is not sufficient to feed them and provide males range over larger areas, raid crops in villages more frequently, and
habitats that are way conflict death were common nowadays [4,5]. thus cross railways more often than females and juveniles were killed to a
lesser extent than expected, implying that they are alert and protected
Train collision or so-called “linear infrastructures” restrict the movement within a family group, whereas calves were killed more often than
of wildlife populations by fragmenting their habitat, increasing edge expected from their percentage of the population, probably because of
effects, constricting ecological corridors, blocking animal movement and their inability to respond quickly to dangerous situations [11].
increasing the risk of elephant and other wildlife mortality and also these Concentration of accidents at night [5] was probably a consequence of
processes hinder the persistence of species in human-dominated elephant movement patterns although only 35% of trains operate at this
landscapes because small and isolated wildlife/ elephant group and only time this is probably because in daytime, elephants tend to rest in more
limited attention has been paid to wildlife–train collisions. Therefore, dense forests, moving towards cultivated fields, villages, barren lands etc.,
there is an urgent need for more information on train– elephant/ wildlife at night [12,13].
collisions, and its mitigation.
3. CONCLUSION
Direct as well as indirect impacts of the railways have exacerbated over
the years with the expansion of the rail network, gauge conversion, and We conclude that the elephant interface over pre-mature deaths by train
increases in frequency and speed of trains to meet the needs of a collision were painful disturbances in elephant population due to
modernizing society and an increasing population. Railway tracks pass increased human needs, loss of elephant habitat and other associated
through elephant habitat in several Indian states, including Assam, West environmental factors have been described more from time to time in the
Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with outlying areas of Uttarakhand apart from poisoning, gunfire, electrocution,
accidents resulting in more than 200 elephant deaths yearly. forest fire, diseases etc.

Cite The Article: Vimalraj Padayatchiar Govindan, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Ayush Uniyal (2019). Developmental Human Interface Due to Train Collision of
Asian Elephant (Elephas Maximus) in Western Circle Forest Division, Uttarakhand, India. Environment & Ecosystem Science, 3(2): 17-19.
 Environment & Ecosystem Science (EES)3(2) (2019) 17-19

Train– elephant collisions was uneven through the landscape, reasons for
this are uncertain, but it may be the result of a number of factors, such as
a variation in animal abundance, activity, and behaviour, habitat
distribution, landscape topography, and rail design.

In our case, accidents seemed concentrated in areas where the railway

track crossed forested habitats heavily used by elephants, and in areas
where elephants cross from forests to agricultural areas during their
foraging movements. There is probably also a high risk of collisions in
corridors that are used when animals move/migrate among forest patches
areas where the risk of collision is high and new railway lines should not
be laid. Where new lines are unavoidable, or where lines are already in
operation, efforts should be targeted to mitigating impacts by
implementing measures such as fencing, bridges, under/ overpasses and
local topography. Use of communications technology as an advance
warning to train drivers and signaling staff. Implement garbage clearance Figure 4: Severe internal bleeding-train collision
and ensure better visibility along the track. Providing barricade/ boulder
to prevent accident of elephants. Setting up of long term funding,
vegetation and animal monitoring projects. Specific programmes, research
and development in the field to restore ecosystem. Sensitization of
organisations and local community mobilization required.

All these processes should be conducted by technically qualified agencies

in close collaboration with local and regional stakeholders, including
government, NGOs, and the general public for the safety of wildlife and its
ecosystem.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the Conservator of Forest and Divisional Forest

Officers, Veterinary officers and other staffs of Western Circle, Haldwani
giving me the opportunity for this study.

Figure 5: Nail injury due to train collision

Figure 1: Agricultural land near Rail/NH track

Figure 6: Severe skin laceration- train collision

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Cite The Article: Vimalraj Padayatchiar Govindan, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Ayush Uniyal (2019). Developmental Human Interface Due to Train Collision of Asian
Elephant (Elephas Maximus) in Western Circle Forest Division, Uttarakhand, India. Environment & Ecosystem Science, 3(2): 17-19.
 Environment & Ecosystem Science (EES)3(2) (2019) 17-19

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Cite The Article: Vimalraj Padayatchiar Govindan, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Ayush Uniyal (2019). Developmental Human Interface Due to Train Collision of
Asian Elephant (Elephas Maximus) in Western Circle Forest Division, Uttarakhand, India. Environment & Ecosystem Science, 3(2): 17-19.