Environmentalist websiteConservation Indiaisreportingon the upgrade of a novel and disturbing witness sport that has emerge in south India ’s Coimbatore wood . It ’s the practice session of “ elephant twit , ” a outlandish and incredibly life-threatening natural process in which onlooker harass elephants to the point in time of revenge . The activity has in all probability contributed to the striking hike in Human - Elephant Conflict ( HEC ) over the preceding twain of age , prompting locals and environmentalists to call upon the authorization to put a stop to the ridiculous practice .
The Coimbatore Forests are home to a significant population of elephant . The realm , which extends from Walayar in the South to Sirumugai in the North , offer six major corridor for the elephants to jaunt . But it ’s also home to hundred of factories and transnational corporations . This collision of nature with human activities has increased the oftenness of interaction between the two species , and not for the good .
To realize what was going on , Conservation India sent two newsperson , Aritra Kshettry and Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan , to the area to investigate . Soon after their arrival , they were greeted by the sight of a trumpeting , in a bad way elephant go frightened at the edge of the forest .
They write :
On the outskirts of Coimbatore metropolis , brick kilns tolerate in the blank space of what used to be an elephant corridor used by generations of these patrician giants . It appears that ‘ elephant - twit ’ has become a spectator sport in the region . A well - connected web of local informant sends messages to people interested in the ‘ game ’ when elephants are spot . As soon as word spread about a herd ’s fix , the crowd pours in on motorbike , cycles and on foundation . Our enquiries uncover that although there are local residents involve in such acts , most of the multitude who take part in the ‘ game ’ are migratory brick kiln doer from far-off places .
One day , we received intelligence from our local tangency about a ruck of elephants come to the border of the timberland . By the time we reached the spot , we were traumatise to get hold ourselves amidst a syndicate of local youth , about a hundred strong , who were flout and howling at a herd of elephants and evoke them . The matriarch positioned herself between the bunch and the herd , try in vain to tranquillize the young member of her fellowship . Sometimes the men , mostly youth assay to prove their machismo , walk justly up to the elephants to set off them and induce some chemical reaction . The elephants reacted by mock charges now and then , when the men came too tight . The poor animate being did not know how to respond to the audacious procession of the unruly mob .
The elephants were clearly traumatized , as reflected by their constant hurt calls . These seemed to goad the people further to hyperbolise their howling . The elephants appeared to be await for nightfall to cross the clearing and move into the next woods patch , which is conterminous with the Nilgiris landscape . The uncivilized spectacle we witnessed seems to be a veritable amour , and the crew seems to draw a sadistic pleasure from face up the gentle giants and evoke some form of distress reaction .
Once nightfall arrived , the crowds dispersed , and the elephant tried to make their way into an adjacent forest patch . But the instalment leave Kshettry and Vijayakrishnan convinced that it was a calamity waiting to happen . And indeed , a week after they note this taunting , the Hindu reported the dying of two soul as a result of similar incident .
Images via Conservation India .
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