Friday, October 24, 2008

Hungry parade of elephants leads to frustration in BNP

Bosky Khanna, Daily News and Analysis
October 04, 2008

BANGALORE: How much food an elephant needs a day?
The voracious appetite of the 5000-odd elephants in Karnataka is leading to a frustrating time for farmers, private land owners as well as forest officials, who have an arduous task of enhancing the green belt across the state.

Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), located 23 kms from the city centre, registers over 500 man-elephant conflict complaints during the monsoon and harvest season.

Harvest season is munching time for the parade of elephants that roam through the leafy forest area.

Despite the luscious bamboo plantations and 120 water bodies that BNP has, more than 200 elephants raid private fields that grow ragi, paddy, sugarcane, mangoes, jackfruit and coconuts.

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