Three Elephants, Including Two Female Calves Killed By Speeding Train In Tamil Nadu
In a tragic incident, three elephants were killed after they were hit by a speeding train at Mahendramedu near Navakkarai in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district while crossing the railway track.
The elephants were crossing the railway track near Marappalam thottam on A-Line between Walayar and Madukkarai sections when they were hit by the Mangalore-Chennai Express on Friday night.
Tragic
One elephant was found on the track while two others seem to be thrown off the track and on the ground below. The loco pilot stopped the train and informed the Palakkad division of Southern Railway to alert the forest department.
The train was stopped for a couple of hours at Walayar with the passengers and resumed it journey later.
The dead elephants were estimated to be aged 12, 18 and 25.
Similar incidents on the rise
The number of elephants getting killed by trains has been increasing at an alarming level in India over the past few years.
In May this year, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had said that a total of 186 elephants were killed after being hit by trains across India between 2009-10 and 2020-21.
According to the data by the Project Elephant Division of the Ministry, Assam accounted for the highest number of elephant casualties on railway tracks (62), followed by West Bengal (57), and Odisha (27).?
In August this year, two elephants - a female and her male offspring were killed by a train in Uttarakhand¡¯s Kumaon region, following which the herd held up the movement of trains for hours.
Following the two deaths, the forest department booked Vijay Chand, the loco pilot of the train under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Frequency of trains?
According to environmentalists, the number of such incidents is on the rise due to the increase in the frequency of trains, including at night through forested areas.
Many also point out that there is a lack of training for loco pilots, resulting in such cases being repeated.??
?"The railways should give guidelines to its loco pilots on the probable areas where the elephant herds are likely to cross the track and forest department can provide valuable inputs regarding this. It is really unfortunate that three elephants died like this and there has to be a proper understanding between the Union environment and forest ministry and the Indian Railways regarding this across the country," Sunil Menon, an environmentalist and wildlife student told IANS.
In 2017, the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) had come up with an innovative solution to keep the elephants away from the railway tracks by using bees.
Based on the finding that elephants are scared of swarming bees, the NRF installed devices at several level crossings in the state to play the sound of buzzing honey bees to drive away the elephants.?
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