Bangladesh

It should not be surprising that Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, holds the fewest domesticated elephants of all eleven elephant-keeping countries in Asia. What is surprising is that the northern, hilly parts of the country once held large numbers of wild elephants and that regular trapping occurred in some areas into the middle 1970s (Reza Khan, 1983a). Dr. Charles Santiapillai, citing Dr. Md. Anwarul Islam, gives 200 to 350 wild elephants in 1996. Bangladesh ratified CITES in 1981.

Table 4: Domesticated elephants in Bangladesh, 1995¹

¹Data is courtesy of Dr. Md. Anwarul Islam (Pers. comm., 1995)

In 1980 there were said to be some 34-43 domesticated elephants in Bangladesh, 25-30 working in the timber industry for private operators and for the Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC); evidently many of the forestry elephants still have, or had, some contact with wild elephants (Reza Khan, 1980).

Currently there are 77 elephants in Bangladesh, as listed in Table 4. Many of the elephants work in logging and in circuses. Others hire out to participate in local festivals, electioneering, and similar work. Of the nine elephants owned by the BFIDC six are cows and three are bulls, including a calf born in 1988. The three elephants of the Dhaka Zoo are all females.

Prices have risen recently. Whereas in the mid-1980s elephants sold for perhaps US$5,000, they now cost about US$15-20,000 {Islam, 1996}.

Six domesticated elephants have been killed recently for mysterious reasons, probably by tribals {Islam, 1996}.