Painful delay in implementing sole man-elephant conflict solution

2022-03-24

Nischith N | NT

Crocodile tears are shed in plenty when the dropping elephant numbers are discussed. Man continues to snatch away habitats of the herbivore wild animals, reducing their very chances of survival – sometimes in the name of development, and other times through unashamed encroachments. When the gentle giants raid farm produce in what they believe is their territory, farmers unleash untold misery on them. This never-ending conflict, the administration decided, could only be arrested by barricading the new-found human property from elephant corridors. Execution of this gallant idea is proving to be an elephantine effort, notes Nischith N.

Elephants are known to move along corridors, some over a 100 kilometres long, for food, water and generally a better habitat, across different seasons. There are 46 such corridors in South India, covering 40,000 sq km, with about 53 per cent of the country’s elephant population using them. Over time, these corridors got disturbed by way of development, encroachment, cultivation and the like.

Still, a number of elephants have been moving in their traditional corridors and this is causing a slew of human-elephant conflicts. Aimed at reducing man-elephant conflicts in its jurisdiction, the Karnataka government recently decided to put up barricades of railway rails to cordon off forest areas.

With human-elephant conflicts continuing to the day, with some resulting in the death of a human being, the demand to capture these wild beasts increases. Succumbing to the pressure, the state forest department has on such occasions trapped an elephant or two, though these may not have been the ones that caused the death. The situation then eases till the next crop damage, injury or death caused by elephants. Activists complain that again there is no progress on the barricading. In the early 1990s, the estimated wild elephant population was 27,785–31,368 across India.

The 2017 census estimated the number at 27,312. So, not much has changed as far as the Karnataka elephant population, which is the highest at 6,049 in the country, followed by Assam 5,719 and Kerala 3,054. It was reported that Rs 621 crore was allocated to barricade 517 km of the corridor across Karnataka. In six years, it has been noted that only 181 km of the job has been completed and the remaining work has been making slow progress.

From 2015 to December 31, 2018, 1,713 people and 373 elephants died due to man-animal conflicts in different states. When it comes to Karnataka, an average of 25 people die due to elephant attacks on a yearly basis. From 2017 to 2019, a total of 63 people died and in 2020-21 as many as 30 people were killed in elephant attacks. Also, a total of 161 elephants died in the last three years across Karnataka for different reasons.

“In fact, in Karnataka, we see conflicts more in those areas where the original forest vegetation has been significantly destroyed. For example, in Kodagu the Revenue department owns and controls forest lands such as in Bane, Sopping Betta, Khan and Parisari, which were once good forested vegetation. These were elephants’ home range, which are now more or less destroyed and cultivated. Wild elephants move in these ranges as guided by their memories and this is causing conflict. Similar it is in Sakaleshpur. Of course, the project to barricade these stretches must be taken seriously by the Forest department” said Gautam, a wildlife activist.

People of Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts have repeatedly demanded a permanent solution to the elephant “menace”. In the last 10 years, 70 people have died in elephant attacks in Hassan district alone. The elephants raid agricultural lands and coffee estates damaging crops. Many farmers have given up growing paddy in parts of Alur and Sakleshpur due to elephants.

“Elephants are classified as mega herbivores and consume up to 150 kg (330 lb) of plant matter every day. They are generalist feeders, both grazers and browsers. During the dry season from January to April, they mainly browse on leaves and twigs preferring the fresh foliage, and consume thornbearing shoots of Acacia species without any obvious discomfort. They feed on the bark of white thorn and other flowering plants, and consume fruits of wood apple, tamarind, kumbhi and date palm. So, barricades are necessary and the process will be hastened soon,” a senior forest official said.

It is said that the department has dropped the idea of capturing and removing elephants en masse. Only ‘rogue’ elephants are removed. The safety of people is ensured with warning messages on people’s mobile phones about the presence of elephants.