Ivory poachers spark crisis in north India

By Nirmal Ghosh
INDIA CORRESPONDENT

RAMNAGAR - A massive manhunt was launched over the weekend in the world famous Corbett National Park in the wake of a wave of elephant poaching which has stunned the government of the new state of Uttaranchal.

The state government rushed three battalions of armed police to the park on Sunday night and placed a senior police officer in charge of the operation to hunt down the poachers.

Joining in the manhunt were hundreds of volunteers along with park employees, combing the forests after staff interrupted the poachers' fifth kill last Thursday.

The national park - a 2,000 sq km territory some 250 km north of New Delhi - was closed down for the first time in its more than 50-year history.

The poachers killed two elephants in December, during the peak tourist season. They killed three more last week. All except one of the animals had their trunks and tusks hacked off with axes.

A sixth elephant is also said to have been killed and park staff were trying to locate the carcass.

The central government has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to look into the poaching activities.

The poachers, clearly experts, killed the elephants with steel, wedge-like projectiles fired from muzzle loaders and tipped with poison - a method used in south India.

Experts believe that ivory poaching syndicates have moved operations to the north Indian forests because enforcement is lax and elephants with big tusks can still be found there, unlike in the south, where they have been virtually wiped out.