Man-animal conflict is a continuing story in the State's jungle zones.
For thousands of families living either within the jungles or contiguous to them, life has become dangerous. The elephants, for their part, bear the brunt of man's commercial greed that has blocked their natural corridors.
It's already telling on the village economy as farming activities have come to a halt with wild elephants often on a rampage. Most households in the Kannur, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts have had encounters with elephants.
This year, five persons were either gored or trampled to death in Wayanad alone by wild elephants. The conflict has also claimed the lives of four elephants whose carcasses were found on farm lands adjacent to Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS).
“The forest patches in all these districts constitute the Nilgiri biosphere and most of the elephant corridors have been blocked," said S. Guruvayoorappan, an officer in the Wildlife Protection Society of India, Palakkad.
Increasing developmental pressure, grabbing of forest land for plantations and mushrooming of holiday resorts have eaten into areas once the preserve of elephants.
The best way to tackle this recurring problem, Mr Guruvayoorappan says is to convert plantations within forests into natural forests. In fact, deer and wild boar also contribute to the crop damage, though the maximum damage in one single spot is always wrecked by wild elephants.
As the man-animal conflict escalates, forest officials find themselves between the devil and the deep sea. “In some villages they are not even allowed to conduct an inquest without a police escort," says N. Badusha, president of the Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithy.
The forest department had introduced various measures to bring down the conflicts, but Mr Badusha says they have been of little use. “Killing a wild elephant has become a sort of celebration in the hamlets. Farmers also prevent forest officials, wildlife activists and police from entering their hamlets," he pointed out.
Electrocution and poisoning are the two favoured methods of killing the raiding elephants. “These methods are used because it becomes difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of death during post-mortem," Mr Badusha said. Read the full report here.
Source: by Jose Kurian, Deccan Chronicle, Kochi.
