インドの野生ゾウ、訓練で他の野生ゾウの襲撃阻止に協力

【テッパカドゥＡＦＰ＝時事】インド南部で２１人の命を奪い、地元住民をおびえさせていた野生のゾウが捕獲されて訓練を受け、村を襲う他のゾウを撃退するまでになっている。地域では、森林伐採によって飢えたゾウが村を襲撃する例が相次いでいる。（写真はインド・タミルナド州ウーティから４５キロのミュードゥーマライ・トラ保護区で草をはむ野生のゾウ）
　５８歳になる雄のゾウ「ムールティー」は、ケララ州で１１人を踏み殺した。当局は射殺命令を出したが、ムールティーは州境を越え、隣のタミルナド州に逃げ込み、さらに１０人の命を奪った。
　だが、タミルナド州当局はゾウに危害を加えることを禁止しているため、ムールティーは１９９８年に同州テッパカドゥにあるゾウの飼育・訓練施設「エレファント・キャンプ」に入れられた。
　ムールティーを訓練しているキルマランさん（５５）は、「ムールティーを訓練し始めてかなりたちますが、純真な子どもみたいで、誰かを痛めつけるようなことはしません」と語った。
　子どもが近づいて一緒に遊んだり抱き付いたりしても、絶対に傷つけることはないという。
　テッパカドゥにある施設は１９２７年に設立され、エレファント・キャンプとしては国内最大だ。
　ここでゾウは、人間の力仕事を手伝うための訓練を受ける。重さ１５０キロくらいまでの荷物を運べるゾウは貴重な労働力だ。
　しかし、周辺の村落にとって、キャンプで飼育されているゾウの最も重要な役割は、たびたび村を襲うようになった野生のゾウを撃退することだ。野生のゾウは食べ物を求めて集落に入り込み、住民を不安に陥れる。
　テッパカドゥ・キャンプ周辺に住む女性は、「野生のゾウが村に入って来ると、子どもたちは危険にさらされます」と話した。
　テッパカドゥ・キャンプのゾウは、マフート（ゾウ使い）と力を合わせながら、集落にやって来る野生のゾウに立ち向かって追い払う訓練を受ける。

■ゾウが襲うのは腹をすかせているから
　世界自然保護基金（ＷＷＦ）によると、インドには野生のゾウが約２万５０００頭生息しており、アジア全体の生息数の６０％前後を占めている。
　キルマランさんは、「ゾウが人間や家を襲う理由はただ一つ。生息地が失われてきたためです」と指摘する。
　「ゾウが生息していた森林はどこも、今では町や村になっています。ゾウは腹をすかせているから襲ってくるのです」
　インド政府の統計によると、２０１９年までの５年間でゾウの襲撃による死者は２３００人以上。一方、同時期に死んだゾウは５００頭を超えている。このうちの３３３頭は感電死で、約１００頭は密猟や毒殺によるものだった。
　インド自然保護財団のアナンダ・クマール氏は、ゾウが人間を踏み殺したいずれのケースでも、ゾウを追い払おうと暴力的になった人間との接触が原因となっていた可能性があると説明する。
　繰り返し銃撃を受け続けた個体では、死んだ後に１００発近い銃弾が獣医師によって取り出された例もあった。クマール氏はその様子を見ていたと話す。
　人間とゾウの衝突をなくすには、ゾウの生息地を保護・拡大するとともに、点在している森をつなげて、ゾウが歩き回れる広大なスペースを確保することが肝要だと専門家は指摘する。
　開発計画を立てる際は「ゾウをはじめとする動物たち、そして、その森林に依存している人々」への影響を考慮する必要があるとクマール氏は語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/12/09-13:29）

Moorthy killed 21 people and terrorised entire villages in southern India for years before he was captured and retrained to repel similar attacks by other wild elephants starved due to deforestation.
The 58-year-old grey beast, recognisable from the bright pink spots that pockmark his face, was already spared a death sentence after trampling nearly a dozen people in the southern state of Kerala.
Despite an official order to shoot him, Moorthy escaped across state lines into neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where he proceeded to kill 10 more people.
But state authorities there forbade harming the elephant and in 1998 he was instead taken into the Theppakadu camp for taming, said Kirumaran M., his trainer.
Ever since I've been training Moorthy, for so many years, he is like an innocent child and doesn't hurt anybody, the diminutive 55-year-old told AFP.
He is so calm that even if a small child goes and plays with him or hugs him, he won't ever hurt them.
Established in 1927, the Theppakadu elephant camp is India's largest.
Semi-wild but brought to heel by human hands, Kumkis like Moorthy are brought there by their minders every morning for a thorough wash, and released every evening back into nearby forests.
They have been trained to assist with manual labour -- their ability to carry up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds) makes them valuable workers.
The herbivores are also ecosystem engineers who spend up to 16 hours a day foraging in their surroundings, leaving a trail of debris that sows seeds and helps forests to flourish.
- Hand-in-trunk defence -
But most importantly for the communities surrounding the camp, they help thwart increasingly frequent and aggressive incursions by wild elephants who venture into settled areas in search of food, leaving their inhabitants fearful of attack.
Wild elephants come to the village and our children are vulnerable, said Shanti Ganesh, a woman living near the Theppakadu camp.
They (the children) have to come to the main road to get to school, so we are always worried that they might be attacked.
Working hand-in-trunk with their mahouts, or handlers, the Theppakadu herd are trained to physically confront and drive away outside elephants from the villages.
Sometimes they also help surround and catch the interlopers so they can be brought into the camp and trained to serve the surrounding community.
Sankar here had attacked and killed at least three people in the village and so we were ordered to capture him, said Vikram, an elephant handler at Theppakadu, gesturing to the beast behind him.
We captured him with the help of other kumkis and now we are training Sankar too.
- 'Because they are hungry' -
India is home to around 25,000 elephants, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature -- around 60 percent of the wild Asian elephant population.
But human encroachment on their forest homes has put them in conflict with humans.
The reason an elephant attacks humans or property is solely because of habitat loss, said Kirumaran, the trainer.
All of the forests where they used to live have now turned into human residential towns or villages -- they attack because they are hungry.
More than 2,300 people were killed in elephant attacks in the five years to 2019, according to Indian government data.
In the same period more than 500 elephants died, including 333 from electrocution and around 100 from poaching and poisoning, the figures show.
Ananda Kumar of India's Nature Conservation Foundation said that any elephant involved in a fatal trampling had likely been provoked by violent confrontations with humans trying to drive the creatures away.
That elephant may have been chased and driven for months, he told AFP.
It's a kind of torture that elephants go through that has to be stopped.
He said he had personally seen one elephant which had been shot so many times that a veterinarian was able to extract nearly 100 bullets from its body once it finally died.
Experts say that stopping human-elephant conflict depends on protecting and expanding elephant habitats and linking up isolated patches of forest to create corridors that give them greater space to roam.
When a developmental project is planned, it has to consider the effect on... species like elephants, and the people depending on these forest areas, Kumar added.