Save the Indian Elephants!
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Dear government officials of India,
dear Members of the German Embassy and Consulars,
The Asian elephant populations are under serious threat of a decline towards extinction due to rapidly diminishing forest habitat throughout their range, including in India. Other factors contributing to this threat are expanding human settlements, increasing resource demands, poaching, and habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation leads to the isolation of populations, and for wide-ranging animals, it may result in several isolated populations that are too small to be viable. Furthermore, inbreeding depression can exacerbate loss of genetic viability due to small population size, eventually leading to population extinction. For these reasons it is imperative that India take immediate efforts to protect known key populations and create corridors that can facilitate animal migration and gene flow.
Long-term conservation of elephants must include conservation of remaining large contiguous wildlands. In South India, the continuous elephant range extending from the Brahmagiri Hills, south through the Nilgiri Hills, and east through the Eastern Ghats is one of 14 out of Asia's 59 known elephant ranges containing wildland area large enough to support substantial elephant populations. This 12,000 sq. km area, spanning three states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala) is thought to sustain 6,300 elephants, the largest remaining population of Asian elephants in the world. The contiguity of the region's forest habitat is not maintained by the patchwork of protected areas, and the range has become highly fragmented.
The Nagarhole, Bandipur, Wynaad, and Mudumalai protected areas and the adjacent Nilgiri North Division have been identified as one of the four most important zones within this range for long-term conservation of elephants, due to its relatively intact habitat and large elephant population. These four parks and their adjoining Reserve Forests cover over 3,300 sq. km of forest and support a population of 1,800-2,300 elephants. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve encloses this entire region. However the Sigur Plateau, on the east side of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu state, which serves as the link between the Eastern and Western Ghats for migrating elephants, remains largely unprotected as a buffer zone. In addition to elephants, tigers, panthers, wild dogs, gaur, hyenas, and several other large mammals also live in the forests of the Sigur plateau. The conservation of this critical elephant habitat would not only serve to protect one of the largest Asian elephant populations, but would also benefit the entire ecosystem, including other rare species and critical ecosystem services.
I am writing to insist that the following actions be taken immediately:
1) Establish a single lead agency with sufficient power and responsibility to command and coordinate the conservation effort.
2) Immediately secure the known elephant corridors in the area around Masinagudi, Tamil Nadu.
3) Raise the standard of protection in all reserved forests that contain viable elephant habitat.
4) A permanent moratorium on any further road development in the Sigur reserved forest.
5) Immediate instigation of initiatives for cattle-tenders and tribals to encourage wildlife-congruous livelihood activities.
India's wild elephants are a global wilderness treasure, precious beyond measure. Their loss would be an inconceivable tragedy for the world. India's continued material prosperity and cultural identity depends critically upon maintaining wild Asian elephants and their habitats for their ecosystem services. Now is the time to enable the best possible conditions for their continued existence by acting effectively to protect contiguous habitat, and maintain large populations. Now is the time to relearn how humanity can coexist with these magnificent animals. The whole world is watching!
Sincercely,
