Bulbul Sharma
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Founded in 1969, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is a global non-profit organization that protects animals and the places they call home. With offices in 15 countries and projects in over 40, we rescue, rehabilitate and release animals into secure landscapes around the world. In collaboration with both governments and local communities, our experienced campaigners, legal and political experts, and internationally acclaimed scientists pioneer lasting solutions to some of the most pressing animal welfare and wildlife conservation issues of our time.
Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is a leading Indian nature conservation organisation committed to the service of nature. Its mission is to conserve wildlife and its habitat and to work for the welfare of individual wild animals, in partnership with communities and governments. WTI’s team of 150 dedicated professionals works towards achieving its vision of a secure natural heritage of India, in six priority landscapes, knit holistically together by nine key strategies or Big Ideas.
IFAW-WTI work as partners to achieve wildlife conservation and animal welfare goals through several projects in India that help secure our natural heritage.
© Wildlife Trust of India 2018
Disclaimer: This book is produced from crowd sources and select art submissions as part of IFAW-WTI Animal Action Education art contests with school children; hence depiction and illustrations may not match reality. Female Asian elephants do not have tusks.
That’s why ‘elephant corridors’ are so important. As forest lands continue to be lost, these relatively narrow patches of vegetation provide vital linkages between larger forest patches. They allow elephants to move freely between secure forests, without being disturbed by humans. In many cases, elephant corridors are also critical for other wildlife including India’s endangered National Animal, the tiger (Panthera tigris).
WHY SHOULD WE CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO ELEPHANTS? Elephants are a keystone species. Their nomadic behaviour – the daily and seasonal walks they make through their home ranges – is immensely important to the environment. They are architects of our forests. Elephants create clearings in the forest as they move about, preventing the overgrowth of certain plant species and allowing space for the regeneration of others, which in turn provide food to other herbivorous animals. Elephants eat plants and fruits and disperse the seeds when they leave their dung behind as they travel long distances. This allows for the distribution of various plant species over large areas, which benefits the forest. Elephant dung provides nutrition to plants and animals and acts as a breeding ground for insects. In times of drought, elephants access water by digging holes, which benefits other wildlife. Further, their large footprints collect water when it rains, benefitting smaller creatures. The umbrella effect: By preserving a large area for elephants to roam freely, one provides a suitable environment for many other animal and plant species of an ecosystem. If elephants were restricted to isolated pockets, unable to move freely through their home ranges, many of India’s species and forests would suffer. In securing the future of elephants, we can secure forests which give us clean air, water and house a large variety of other species that are part of the food chain.
SECURING RIGHT OF PASSAGE FOR ELEPHANTS IN INDIA To secure a future for wild elephants we need to ensure that they move freely and safely between forests. To do this, we must also ensure that people living in the area are safe. This is what Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has been working on, through the Right of Passage project since 2003. Our aim, in partnership with the Government of India’s Project Elephant, the State Forest Departments and various non-governmental organisations, has been to protect and secure elephant corridors, while ensuring that people living around forests with elephants get a better life.