Do India’s Elephants Really Need Birth Control?

[Varun]

Are there too many elephants in India? That’s the question at the crux of a debate between wildlife experts on whether the government should use contraceptive measures to manage the population of four species including elephants.

If you go by the country’s first ever synchronised Elephant Census conducted in 2017, there are 27,312 elephants across 23 states.

But experts have argued that this number does not give a complete picture, mainly because of issues with the different methods used to estimate the population of elephants. The government itself said in the 2017 census report that the results should be interpreted with caution.

It’s not just elephants—in India, accurate nation-wide population data on most animal species, including tigers, is hard to arrive at because of problems with the methodology used to track their numbers.

This is a major reason why the environment ministry’s proposal to use immunocontraceptives has met with resistance from many experts.

Apart from Asian elephants, these contraceptives—vaccines that, when injected into the female of the species, will prevent eggs from being fertilised—will also be used on rhesus macaques, wild boar and nilgai.

The 10-year project to develop an immunocontraceptive was approved in 2017, with a budget of Rs10 crore. According to Vinod Mathur, the director of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the nodal agency for the project, it will “soon be implemented on a pilot basis in a phased manner”.

While there has been an increase in human-elephant conflict over the years, is it right to argue that this is because the population of elephants has become burdensome?

When asked how much we know about elephant density and distribution across the country, Dr. Devcharan Jathanna, associate director of Conservation Science at NGO Wildlife Conservation Society-India (WCS), said “very little”.

There is long-term elephant population monitoring data from individual protected areas such as Nagarahole, Bandipur, Bhadra and Wayanad and some estimates from Kaziranga, Jathanna explained.

“But we don’t actually know how many elephants there are across elephant distributional ranges, either at the state or national level,” he said.

This is because dense vegetation in India’s forests only allows minimal detection of wildlife, making it difficult to accurately assess their population through direct observational methods. That’s why India uses estimation techniques that depend on sampling.

So what, then, is the rationale for injecting immunocontraceptives—a technology as yet untested in India—into Asian elephants, a species that is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered animals?

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry...ironment-ministry_in_5d6685dbe4b022fbceb43051

Much rather have 1.3 billion of them rather than us, but that could just be me.

 

[MenInG]

Well if they are threatening humans and their livelihood then the choice is clear.

 

[bluevision]

Our people need birth control more than any other species.

 

[msaaim89]

Well if they are threatening humans and their livelihood then the choice is clear.

Why should the infinite people be prioritised?

 

[sweep_shot]

Much rather have 1.3 billion of them rather than us, but that could just be me.

So, you want 1.3 billion elephants instead of humans?

I love animals too but I consider human life superior to other animals.

 

[msaaim89]

So, you want 1.3 billion elephants instead of humans?

I love animals too but I consider human life superior to other animals.

Despite outnumbering them 50,000 to 1?

 

[sweep_shot]

Despite outnumbering them 50,000 to 1?

Of course.

It doesn't matter what the ratio is. Human life is always more precious and rightly so.

 

[Varun]

Of course.

It doesn't matter what the ratio is. Human life is always more precious and rightly so.

Let's agree to disagree on this one.

 

[troodon]

So, you want 1.3 billion elephants instead of humans?

I love animals too but I consider human life superior to other animals.

No life is superior or inferior. It depends on which special of animals you are asking.

Humans have severely infested Planet Earth. We are in no danger of extinction. Poor animals are forced to enter human areas as their habitats get encroached on by humans every day.

 

[sweep_shot]

No life is superior or inferior. It depends on which special of animals you are asking.

Humans have severely infested Planet Earth. We are in no danger of extinction. Poor animals are forced to enter human areas as their habitats get encroached on by humans every day.

If a hungry crocodile attacks your loved one, would you save your loved one or would you let crocodile eat?

 

[msaaim89]

of course.

It doesn't matter what the ratio is. Human life is always more precious and rightly so.

no.

 

[msaaim89]

If a hungry crocodile attacks your loved one, would you save your loved one or would you let crocodile eat?

Family members should not be in crocodile territory in the first place, therefore that scenario should not be an issue.

 

[troodon]

If a hungry crocodile attacks your loved one, would you save your loved one or would you let crocodile eat?

Sure, I will protect my loved ones. That does not mean I will go and swim in their waters and encroach on their habitat.

If a wild animal enters human residential areas and attacks people, then it needs to be put down.

But humans entering the wild areas and taking away their habitats is pathetic. Animals have the right to live too.

 

[sweep_shot]

Sure, I will protect my loved ones. That does not mean I will go and swim in their waters and encroach on their habitat.

If a wild animal enters human residential areas and attacks people, then it needs to be put down.

But humans entering the wild areas and taking away their habitats is pathetic. Animals have the right to live too.

That's what I was looking for.

I am an animal lover and I support animal rights. But, if an animal attacks a human for no reason, that animal should be put down (if situation demands).

Other than that, they have a right to be left alone. Nobody should bother them.

 

[imrankhannsu]

I thought the title was a metaphor