KATHMANDU, Feb 13: A study committee formed by the government to investigate the killing of a wild elephant named Makuna the Nepali Army personnel in the Lamital area of Chitwan National Park (CNP)'s Kumroj Buffer Zone has returned to Kathmandu after completing its on-site study.
The team led by Dr Buddhisagar Poudel, joint secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Environment, returned to Kathmandu on Thursday after three days of fieldwork. The task force, which included representatives from the CNP, the Nepali Army, and other concerned parties, held discussions and inspected the incident site.
The task force’s preliminary study has concluded that the gunshots that killed Makuna were fired in self-defense. “We went to the incident site with the team that shot at Makuna. Based on the geographical conditions and what they said, it didn't seem intentional,” said a member of the study committee, adding, “It appears that the rangers fired the gunshots to protect them from being targeted by the elephant.”
The member added that the elephant was positioned on an elevated spot when it unexpectedly encountered the rangers, causing some of them to stumble. Initially, the rangers fired two warning shots into the air, but the elephant did not retreat and instead began charging towards them. The rangers fired three additional shots in self-defense that killed the elephant.”
The member said that the study committee is preparing to mention in its report that the Nepali Army, stationed at CNP, fired shots in self-defense. He said that a separate study should be conducted on whether the elephant should have been chased away using some other methods or not.
The team on Monday met with the chief district officer of Chitwan, staff of the CNP, representatives from the Khairahani and Ratnanagar municipalities, presidents of four buffer zone community forests, members of the Hotel Entrepreneurs Association, the United Elephant Operators Cooperative, Nepal Tourism Board, and conservationists for discussions.
The study committee's coordinator, Dr Paudel, said that they will submit a report to the government within two days, summarizing the topics discussed during the study and deliberations. Dr Paudel said that the stakeholders present during the discussions suggested them to adopt security measures and other precautions to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
He further mentioned that the stakeholders suggested to integrate the management of domesticated elephants and to improve the habitat within the national park. Makuna died on February 5 after being shot by the Nepali Army deployed to protect CNP rangers. Subsequently, the Ministry of Forests and Environment formed an investigation committee on February 7, with the task of preparing a detailed report and identifying the causes of the incident within seven days.
The five-member investigation committee formed under the leadership of Paudel includes members Purushottam Sharma, senior monitoring officer at the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department, Lieutenant Colonel Gajendra Rawal, chief of the Directorate of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department, Sabnam Pathak, a forest officer with the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation and Dr Dinesh Shah, veterinarian at the Chitwan National Park Office.
According to the CNP, the Nepali Army, which was deployed for security, said that Makuna died last Wednesday after they opened fire in self-defense as the elephant started attacking humans and other elephants deployed from the park in an attempt to chase the wild elephants towards the national park from the Lamital area of the Kumroj Community Forest.