Elephants fed metal for their tusks
2001-01-23 11:40
New Delhi - Poachers scouring for ivory have fed nails and shrapnel to
elephants to kill them silently in India's most prestigious
wildlife park, The Hindustan Times newspaper said on Sunday.
Wardens from the Corbett National Park said the first such slaying
was discovered three months ago when foresters tracked a blood
trail to a dead male tusker in the 5 000 square-kilometre sanctuary.
The Times said two other elephants were fed jagged metal mixed with dough or molassas by poachers in the state-owned park, which stretches from the northern Indian state up to Nepal.
Corbett warden Brijendra Singh said that once digested, the metal pieces quickly shred the intestines, killing the elephants very
painfully but more quietly than shooting.
"It is clear the elephant was killed for ivory," Singh said, in a
reference to the latest carcass which was found in one of the most
remote areas of the wildlife-rich park, named after the fabled
British hunter Jim Corbett.
"It is an utterly despicable way of killing a harmless animal," the angry warden said, adding that the incidents took Corbett foresters
by surprise as poaching in the state-owned park was relatively
uncommon.
Last year, the mysterious death of almost a dozen rare Royal Bengal
tigers in the Nandankanan National Park in eastern Indian state of
Orissa shocked the nation.
In another incident, a 13-month-old Royal Bengal tigress was killed and skinned in a state-run zoo.
In September last year, India's Supreme Court called for strict government measures to protect the tiger population. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA