It was the dead of night on 11 June 2023. Hasina Begum was suddenly awaked by the sound of gunshots echoing through the deep forest. Armed with a flashlight, she stepped out to find an elephant groaning beneath a jackfruit tree in a corner of her yard. Blood was streaming from its head. Moments later, the animal collapsed. Its groans grew faint and by the next day, it was dead.
Standing at her homestead beside the Khutakhali forest in Cox's Bazar, 35-year-old Hasina Begum said that elephant herds often descend upon nearby mango orchards at night. This particular elephant died after being shot during such an encounter. According to her, five or six similar incidents have occurred in the area over the past few years.
When asked if she knew who was responsible for shooting the elephants, Hasina avoided a direct answer. However, the answer came from Abdul Hamid, a resident of another village bordering the Khutakhali forest.
"Hasina’s husband, Md. Idris, shot that elephant," Hamid claimed. "We recovered the gun from his house. Idris later served six months in jail in a case filed by the Forest Department." However, Hasina Begum said that her husband was not home that night and claimed she knew nothing of the matter. As Idris was away, it was not possible to speak with him.
Hasina’s yard is adjacent to the Madhushia Garjan forest, a vital elephant corridor. On the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list, this path is known as the Khutakhali-Medhakachhapia corridor. Elephant herds regularly use this forest to migrate. Local residents say that elephant killings spike whenever the paddy harvesting season arrives.
In its last elephant survey conducted in 2016, the IUCN recorded 268 elephants in Bangladesh, with the majority residing in Cox's Bazar, Chattogram and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Following this survey, the IUCN classified the species as ‘Critically Endangered.’
Road through elephant corridor in forest: Project advanced without informing Forest DepartmentIn November 2020, the Chief Conservator of Forests, Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury, formed a committee to investigate the causes behind elephant killings in Cox's Bazar. The investigation report, submitted that same month, explicitly cited a ‘lack of sincerity and goodwill’ among forest officials in protecting the animals.
To save the elephants, the probe committee recommended keeping shrinking corridors open by fighting encroachment, increasing patrols to remove electric traps and bolstering manpower. It also suggested forming Elephant Response Teams, creating food-friendly plantations and preserving forest water reservoirs to meet the animals' needs during the dry season. Furthermore, it called for measures to stop the extraction of natural elephant food sources, such as bamboo and wild grasses, from the forests.
Who is pulling the trigger?
A spot visit on 20 June revealed a vast expanse of paddy fields between the Hazirghona area of Khutakhali forest and the Madhushia Garjan forest. There were five watch platforms made of bamboo and straw on across the fields. No one was on the platforms during the day, but local residents said armed men take position there after dusk.
The platforms were built by local farmers to guard ripening paddy crops. Most of these farmers are registered as villagers under the Forest Department. Hasina Begum's husband, Idris, is one such villager.
A settlement known as Villager Para in Khutakhali is home to many of these registered villagers. According to the Forest Department, the British colonial government introduced the villager system in 1930, allocating between 25 and 200 decimals of forest land to landless families in return for helping protect the forest. Those who received the land became known as villagers. Over time, as their families grew, they expanded their settlements and seized more forest land for cultivation. To protect these crops, many have now turned to killing elephants.
Abdul Hamid of Villagerpara stated that almost every watch platform in the forest is equipped with firearms, particularly a single-barrel muzzleloader. When elephants descend at night, they are fired upon from these watchtowers.
A similar watch platform was visible atop a mango tree in Hasina Begum’s yard. Forest Department records show that several villagers have already been named as accused in three separate elephant killing cases.
Mansur Mia, an elderly resident of Villagerpara, told Prothom Alo that while the older generation used non-lethal methods to ward off elephants, the new generation resorts to gunfire. He added that landowners within the reserved forests, who have built farmhouses, also contribute to the killings. Furthermore, hunters entering the forest to kill wild boars often shoot at elephants if they encounter them.
The Forest Department lacks an accurate count of current villagers in the Cox's Bazar region. However, sources within the department confirmed that approximately 28,000 acres of forest land in Cox's Bazar have already been lost to illegal occupation.
Md. Maruf Hosain, Divisional Forest Officer of Cox’s Bazar North, admitted that the British-era ‘Villager system’ has never been updated. Since 1930, the number of families has ballooned, increasing the pressure on the forest. He stated that a formal letter would be sent to higher authorities to decide the future course of action regarding this system.
According to field-level Forest Department officials, each of the approximately 60 bit offices in Cox's Bazar has about 20 to 25 villagers under its jurisdiction. Based on an average of 20 per bit, the total number of villagers in the region is estimated to be around 1,200.
More shootings than officially recorded
According to the Forest Department, nine elephants were shot dead in Cox's Bazar between 2016 and 2025. However, newspaper reports indicate the actual number is at least 18. More than six of those shootings occurred in Khutakhali alone.
While the Forest Department has officially recorded relatively few shooting incidents, field-level forest officials and veterinary surgeons involved in elephant autopsies paint a different picture. Elephant post-mortem examinations are jointly conducted by veterinary surgeons from the Upazila Livestock Office and the Forest Department.
They said that at least 70 per cent of the elephants they examined had suffered gunshot wounds. One veterinary surgeon said bullets had been recovered from the bodies of 20 elephants during post-mortem examinations in Cox's Bazar. They also reported seeing elevated watch platforms inside forests from which elephants were allegedly shot.
Where do the weapons come from?
On 17 May this year, an elephant was shot dead in the Eidgaon Range of Chakaria upazila. Veterinary surgeon Mostafizur Rahman of Dulahazara Safari Park, who conducted the post-mortem, told Prothom Alo that a bullet was recovered from a depth of nine inches above the elephant's left eye.
The bullet weighed six grams and according to Rahman, had been fired from a locally made muzzle-loading gun.
On 15 March 2025, following another elephant killing, the Forest Department recovered a single-barrel firearm from a watch platform deep inside the forests of Inani in Cox's Bazar. Officials said such homemade weapons are made from mild steel (MS) pipes and typically fire shotgun pellets.
Abhijit Das, assistant superintendent of police for the Chakaria Circle, told Prothom Alo that police arrested a suspect in 2025 from the Matamuhuri area of Chakaria with equipment used to manufacture firearms. He said many of the weapons are produced in the remote hills of Kalamarchhara in Maheshkhali before being distributed across different parts of Cox's Bazar. Police regularly conduct raids based on credible intelligence, he added.
In 2013, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) uncovered a workshop manufacturing locally made firearms in Kalapara of Khutakhali, Chakaria. Three years later, on 4 December 2016, RAB discovered two more illegal arms factories in Charandwip, also in Chakaria.
Wildlife expert Reza Khan said preventing elephant shootings would require coordinated efforts by the police, the Forest Department and local political leaders. The police know who possesses firearms and ammunition. But the reality is that without support from local political leaders for wildlife conservation, the police alone cannot solve the problem, he said. He also recommended dismantling the watch platforms from which elephants are allegedly being shot.
