Bangladesh to India: Take back your elephants

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http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/jul/07bangla.htm

 

Dhaka | July 07, 2004 19:10 IST

 

 

 

Bangladesh has requested India to take back around 100 elephants that

had allegedly strayed into its territory two years ago, warning that

otherwise they might be eliminated.

 

 

 

The Wildlife Society of Bangladesh, in a statement yesterday, urged

the Government of India to immediately take back 100 Indian elephants

staying in Gozni area in Sherpur district for the last two years,

media reports said in Dhaka today.

 

 

 

The Society cautioned that unless India takes back these elephants,

Bangladesh has the right to eliminate or destroy them with

cooperation from the international community as the country does not

have the capacity to keep the animals, the Independent newspaper

reported.

 

 

 

President of WSB Professor Kazi Zaker Hossain, in his statement,

quoted local people as saying that these elephants came to Gozni area

nearly two years ago. " The elephants used to come from Garo Hill area

in India in the evening and after overnight stay return the following

morning, " he quoted the local people as saying.

 

 

 

But the creation of a highway and the cutting of bushes on the other

side made it difficult for them to return. As a result, the elephants

lost their way and stayed inside Bangladesh, the statement said.

 

 

 

The number of elephants came to be known from a study conducted

jointly by the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Fish and Wildlife

Services of USA.

 

 

 

" The stranded elephants were destroying trees, roads, and houses and

were injuring many citizens, " claimed Hossain.

 

 

 

 

 

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" The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people

who get in his way tomorrow. " - Dr. Diane Fossey, Woman in the Mists

(Dr. Fossey was killed by someone who killed animals yesterday.)

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