A distressing video of an elephant family including young calves being forced to walk on a railway track in Tamil Nadu’s Niligiris for a considerable distance, because they could not cross over to the forest on the other side due to a wall built by the Railway Department, has gone viral.
Distressing to see that this herd of elephants had to negotiate their way through danger filled railway track. Need to have a mandatory SOP for all infra agencies towads sensitive wildlife friendly design & execution #savewildlife @RailMinIndia #elephants #Nilgiris pic.twitter.com/tSiKk3aTXS
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) February 2, 2022
The video shared by IAS officer Supriya Sahu highlighted the ever present danger they faced due to the possibility of an approaching train.
However, the Railways were quick to react and take remedial action as a second video shared by the IAS officer shows the wall being dismantled.
While the objective of fences along highways or railway tracks are designed to decrease accident probability and lessen animal-human clashes, the video shows an example of exactly the wall becoming a hindrance.
When we work together we come out with solutions 👍The wall is being demolished Great team work #TNForest and @RailMinIndia 🙏#savewildlife #elephants https://t.co/5ySBm4MX4g pic.twitter.com/J8QNKBZsSj
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) February 3, 2022
Sahu said in her tweet: “Need to have a mandatory SOP for all infra agencies towards sensitive wildlife friendly design & execution”.
