- Indians are particularly fond of elephants, considered not only as an extremely intelligent animal but also revered courtesy of our rich heritage passed on through generations after generations. Such is the significance of the elephant in our tradition, culture, heritage, and day-to-day existence that we have grown up admiring the gentle giant with tonnes of love and affection. Of course, the modern world, ever-expanding in the guise of development in commensurate with the desired expectations, has posed severe challenges in the form of human-animal conflicts. Unfortunately, despite every stakeholder attempting to introduce possible measures to reduce the conflicts, the situation on the ground hasn’t improved much.
PC: YouTube
- The recently announced DNA-based census confirms that India is not doing right either by the magnificent creature or its own heritage. Mind you, India is symbolically associated with the elephant (as the US is with the eagle and China with the dragon) says something about its place in our civilization and imagination. As mentioned above, these majestic creatures are revered in connection with deities such as Lakshmi, Ganesha, and Buddha, among others. It’s worthwhile to remind ourselves that elephants have a special place in our collective psyche in more than one way. For the uninitiated, as per the new Status of Elephants in India reports, killing an elephant was punishable with death in the early Mauryan period. Shows how much the animal was revered.
PC: The Quint
- Note that not every country is blessed with such a rich heritage of coexistence, compassion, and worship in relation to animals. The moot point to ponder over here is whether we are living up to it. Not at all. The new 2021-25 estimate of India’s Asian elephant population is 22,446, down 19% since the 2007 estimate. Yes, the use of the DNA-based mark-recapture technology this time means the data are not totally comparable, even as it provides a much more reliable baseline for future monitoring. Also, the report is crystal clear and detailed that India is disrespecting and hurting elephants today, across the country. For example, the once-contiguous elephant population in the Western Ghats continues to be rapidly disconnected. Why? Let’s dwelve.
PC: Dailyo
- Some of the factors, like changing land use and mushrooming developmental projects, are contributing big time. Such fragmentation is acute in the Northeast, which holds the second-largest elephant population in India. Across the planet, the last century has seen humanity quadruple its number while African elephants have lost nearly 90% of theirs and Asian ones 70%. Even modern notions of compassion are all screwed up. Tourists feel good about themselves when they support so-called elephant sanctuaries. But that baby must stay in the water all day, pulled away from her own family to entertain one set of strangers after another; that’s severe exploitation of a sentient being. This intelligent animal belongs in the wild. Let’s respect this fact.
