Population explosion is number one problem for India. Extreme poverty, high rate of unemployment and illiteracy- all these problems are related to high population growth in India. It seems that India is now suffering from elephant population explosion and India is trying to tackle this problem by introducing birth control for elephants. I am quoting from a report of Reuters:
“The eastern Indian state of West Bengal has said that it lacked funds for the upkeep of elephants that it employs for patrolling sanctuaries, and will start giving them birth control injections and pills from this month.
But the move has been criticized by wildlife groups who say the animals are already under pressure due to increasing habitat destruction and poaching.
India has nearly half of the world's 60,000 Asian elephants. West Bengal accounts for around 400 elephants, 65 of which are in captivity, some of which are used by forest guards for patrolling wildlife sanctuaries.
"We spend over six million rupees ($130,000) on feeding and looking after the elephants every year," P.T. Bhutiya, a senior West Bengal forestry official, told Reuters.
"And only 30 of them are used for protection (of sanctuaries), making it necessary for us to try birth control measures," he said, adding that there were three to four new births annually.”
What is tragic is that when it comes to conservation of environment India lags behind than many countries in the world. Indian government is trumpeting its economic success in the media over and again. We talk about impressive economic growth of India and India is flourishing. However, it seems that the mindset of Indian officials is not flourishing. How could they even think of this brutal idea to control the dying elephant population?
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