Expert opposes removal of tusks in bull elephants

Baripada,Dec 20(UNI) Elephant expert Sushant Chowdhury strongly disapproved an idea to tranquilise and saw off the tusks of the bull elephants in the wild to save them from the poachers' greed.

Mr Chowdhury, an expert in Population Management and capture and rehabilitation of all wild animals in distress and problem at the Wildlife Institute in India(WII) at Dehradun was currently on tour to evaluate the ''Project Elephant'' activities in the elephant reserves of Orissa, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal.

According to him the tusks are important in the natural selection of mates for the pachyderm. A cow elephant would be attracted to mate with a hefty, tall, bull carrying a magnificent and highly symmetrical pair of tusks.

Mr Choudhary's reaction came following a suggestion during the Range Officer at the Forest Training College at Angul to saw off the tusks and save the bulls from being killed by the poachers.

He said the removal of the tusks would seriously disturb the process of natural selection of the elephants for mating. ''You cannot expect a genetical vigour in a population when such process is disturbed,'' the elephant expert remarked.

A robust manly bull with its majestic pair of tusks can alone pass on its genetic qualities to the progenies, Mr Choudhary said while outlining various hazards related to tranquilisation of the elephants.

He further said cutting the tusks beyond a particular length might lead to septicemia and breeding of maggots in the tooth cavities.

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