UPDATE: Plan Bee testing was a success, so the national transporter will install devices that emit buzzing sounds along the railway tracks that elephants trespass to prevent their deaths. The device is promising because it doesn’t restrict the animals, who have the freedom to move around the forest as they please, but sends signals to the train to halt to allow them to pass. The device has passed the necessary tests and will soon be installed in places that have been earmarked as elephant corridors. The seismic sensors and thermal cameras will be installed near railway tracks to warn the train drivers of animal movement. Elephant-proofing barricades are also being added near railways. We are pleased that these crucial actions are being taken to prevent future deaths.
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Tragedy struck last week when a speeding train crashed into 4 elephants in India’s Bagadihi Forest. The train threw the majestic animals into the air, leaving their battered, lifeless bodies strewn along the tracks. One of the elephants was just a baby.
Elephant killings by reckless trains have become a grave problem in India. In February, five elephants were killed in a gruesome train collision. And more than 30 elephant/train deaths have reportedly happened in just the past 5 years, a major spike from previous decades.
Elephants are already under threat from brutal poaching, and we must protect them from death by trains.
Train conductors are supposed to reduce their speed to about 18 miles per hour in elephant zones; but in the latest tragedy, the train was going 75 mph.
It is imperative that India’s government take action.
Sign this petition urging India’s Minister of Railways to strongly enforce laws requiring trains to slow down and continuously sound their horns through elephant corridors — before any more of these imperiled animals are killed.
