Elephants Butchered In Manas National Park
Three wild elephants were brutally killed in Manas National Park, Assam, allegedly by poachers. A scathing exposé on forest department failures, systemic negligence, and the urgent need for wildlife protection.
By Jove, what have we come to? While the powers that be were busy prancing about with ballot boxes and babbling about Panchayat polls, at least three wild elephants – gentle giants, icons of India’s natural heritage – were butchered in Manas National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site no less! And what did the poachers walk away with? Ivory tusks and, in one stomach-churning instance, an entire severed head. I say, if this doesn’t leave your blood boiling, I don’t know what will.
Let’s not beat about the bush – this is nothing short of a scandal. This heinous act, committed allegedly near the Palengshi beat on the Indo-Bhutan border, reeks of both barbarism and bureaucratic bungling. The poor creatures didn’t stand a chance. And while villagers in Hailakandi were rightly chanting “No road, no vote”, demanding basic dignity, our so-called guardians of the wild were caught with their trousers down, yet again.
Forest officials, in their infinite wisdom, reportedly tried to sweep the entire episode under the carpet. No press briefings, no images released, just tight-lipped silence and sheepish glances. Are they daft, or do they take the public for mugs? Is this how one honours the memory of creatures whose very presence defines the soul of Assam?
One elephant was found beheaded. Beheaded! That’s not just poaching, that’s savagery. And where, pray, were the foot patrols? The border beat guards? Did the poachers just stroll in, do their dirty deed, and skip away into the woods with nary a soul to stop them? If so, what in God’s name is the forest department doing?
Rupam Kumar Das of the Bodoland People’s Front has raised the alarm, but more voices must follow. We’re not talking about lost livestock or damaged crops. We’re talking about wild elephants, protected under Indian law and revered across cultures. Their brutal killing is a national shame, not a footnote to be buried beneath Panchayat poll updates and bureaucratic blather.
This isn’t just about a few rogue hunters with rifles and machetes. This is about a system that has gone completely to pot – lax enforcement, possible collusion, and a wilful refusal to take responsibility. If the officials think they can keep mum and carry on as if nothing happened, they’ve got another think coming.
Assam’s forests are bleeding. And if this slaughter doesn’t spark public outrage, we might as well hang up our boots and hand the keys to the poachers. What’s next? Rhinos with their horns hacked off in the dark while officials “monitor the situation”?
Enough is enough. The government must come clean, launch an independent inquiry, and bring the culprits – both those who pulled the trigger and those who turned a blind eye – to book. And they’d better hop to it, before another tusker falls, and another head rolls – literally.
Because if we can’t protect our elephants in a national park, then we might as well rename it Manas Poaching Reserve and be done with the pretence.
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