A village where men, elephants coexist peacefully

UDALGURI, Dec 4 - Even as the man-elephant conflict rages across the State, a village near the Bhutiachang tea estate in Udalguri district has shown that it is not quite impossible to maintain a ‘peaceful coexistence’ with elephants.

The No. 4 Bhutiachang village which has been frequented by elephant herds for decades with the debilitating consequences of human fatalities and crop loss, has evolved an innovative approach that is visibly easing the tension between man and animal for the past couple of years.

“Earlier we used to be aggressive towards the herds that destroyed our paddy and even killed people. Now, with the realisation that undue aggression on our part often enraged the elephants that developed a hatred for humans, we have ceased our hostility to the elephants. We have secured our paddy fields with solar fencing and at the same time never tried to hinder the elephants’ movement in our village,” Bimal Bodo, the local village defence party president with some training on handling elephant depredation, said.

To read the full article, click on the story title