Pained by the fact that there have been as many as 200 elephant deaths on railway tracks across the country between 2010 and 2020, Wildlife SOS on Friday launched a petition to the Indian Railways seeking implementation of measures to protect this iconic species by reducing train speeds and utilising the latest technology to prevent collisions in sensitive areas.
India is home to more than half of the globe’s Asian elephant population. However, it is disconcerting for the wildlife lovers in the country that there has been an increasing incidence of pachyderm deaths caused by train collisions over the years.
The data collated by Wildlife SOS in the run-up to the World Elephant Day on August 12 reveals as many as nearly 200 elephants were killed in train collisions between 2010 and 2020, averaging about 20 elephants each year.
