Elephant Conservation Research Paper

Introduction

The elephant, the largest warm-blooded terrestrial animal, is also an endangered species as a result of incessant competition with humans land, food and water. Therewith over population, tremendous growth of industrialization and agriculture production, the habitats of wild animals in the world is decreasing day by day.

In the early years of the eighteenth century, wild elephants were rich in number throughout the eastern and northwestern divisions of Rangpur (northeast). In this time they were frequently raided the harvested crop fields. Some of the landholders or zamindars kept tame female elephants as trap for capturing these wild elephants. In that time elephants were captured annually and gave it to the government as payment

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and having a still growing human population, elephant conservation faces many obstacles. Lack of awareness has been identified as one of the most important challenges for natural resource conservation in Bangladesh (Chowdhury et al. 2011), which also effects elephant conservation. A survey of people in the Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary found 49% willing to conserve elephants, l6% undecided, and 35% against their conservation (Islam 2006). In a survey of 388 people in four protected areas (Teknaf Game Reserve, Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, and two Reserve Forests in the south-east and the northeast) almost two thirds stated that a protected area with wild elephant conservation would provide people with no value, while the remaining one-third agreed with the recreational value and the importance of elephant conservation for biodiversity and ecology (Sarker & Røskaft 2010). The distance people lived from a park (closer more negative) and the financial status (poorer more negative), were found to be the main predictors for attitudes of forest villagers towards elephant conservation (Sarker & Røskaft

The Forest Department started kheda operations in 1915. Kheda operations were stopped in Bangladesh in 1965 (Islam 2006). All wild elephants are now protected under the Bangladesh Wildlife Conservation (Amendment) Act of 1974 and cannot be hunted, killed or captured. The act has provision for the Chief Wildlife Warden to declare an elephant as a ‘rogue elephant’ and issue a special permit for destroying it. According to the Wildlife (Conservation) Act (Draft) 2011, the penalty for killing an elephant will be imprisonment for 2 - 7 years or a fine of Tk 100,000- 1,000,000 (US$ 1,420-14,200) or both, and for a repetition, imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1,200,000 (US$ 17,140) or both (MoEF 2011). The Act has been tabled at the parliament and sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee responsible for MoEF for