An elephantine conundrum

Ongoing and proposed mega projects pose major threats to the elephant population.

At the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in West Champaran district of Bihar, India, ‘steps are being taken to make few elephants, which stray from the adjacent Chitwan National Park in Nepal, permanent residents’ of the reserve. According to Dipak Kumar Singh, principal secretary of Patna’s environment, forest and climate change department, some elephants from Chitwan stray into the reserve for a few months every year and return.