Injured female elephant found dead at Tholampalayam

COIMBATORE: The injured five-year-old female elephant, which had been spotted near Periyanaickenpalayam a few days ago, was found dead at Tholampalayam on Wednesday.

“The elephant could have died on Tuesday night. It was found in the postmortem that two of the elephant’s teeth were broken. It might have struggled to take food,” said district forest officer D Venkatesh.

Forest officials had been tracking the elephant, whose carcass was found deep inside reserve forest, for about a week.

“We started monitoring the animal after we got information that the elephant had been standing frequently near a waterhole in Thadagam reserve forest. As we noticed its lower jaw had been dislocated, we brought a veterinarian to inspect the animal. Based on his suggestion, we were giving the elephant medicine-laced bananas,” said Venkatesh.

Earlier in the week, a ten-year-old male elephant was found dead near Burgur forest area near Anthiyur in Erode.

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Success in jumbo tracking

The state forest department's decision to introduce global positioning systems (GPS) to track elephants and curb the jumbo menace near human habitations in the forest division has started to yield dividends.

"The GPS trackers introduced in the division's seven elephant-interference-prone forest ranges have achieved a certain degree of success in tackling man-elephant conflict," said Keonjhar's divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi.

"Villages under the forested areas of Keonjhar, Bhuyan-Juanga-Pidha, Telkio, Ghatgaon, Patna, Champua and Barbil have borne the brunt of elephant depredation over the past few months. Locating the animals was important to drive then away from the forest-side villages. After deliberations with elephant experts, we resorted to the GPS tracking, and it is paying dividends," he said.

Nearly 230 contractual employees, with the assistance of forest officials, are keeping 24x7 watch in batches on the movement of the elephants armed with GPS. Once the elephants are tracked, their location is transmitted to the district control room, which then alerts the patrolling team nearby to drive them away from human habitations, Joshi said.

Technology has made tracking movements of wild elephants and their corridors easier, he said.

Five people have died, while 30 others suffered injuries in elephant attacks since January. Over 100 houses have been damaged by herds, while the extent of damage caused to farmland is yet be assessed, said a forest official.

The GPS-tracking teams spotted 85 elephants on Thursday night. The Champua forest range, which is the worst-hit, recorded 28 jumbos.

Of the 85 elephants tracked, around 20 came from forested areas in Jharkhand and Bengal. Patrolling squads have stepped up watch in those areas to curb possible outbreaks of man-elephant conflict. An official said there have been no reports of elephants causing damage to life and property in the past week.

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Success in jumbo tracking - Tech support to curb man-elephant conflicts

The state forest department's decision to introduce global positioning systems (GPS) to track elephants and curb the jumbo menace near human habitations in the forest division has started to yield dividends.

"The GPS trackers introduced in the division's seven elephant-interference-prone forest ranges have achieved a certain degree of success in tackling man-elephant conflict," said Keonjhar's divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi.

"Villages under the forested areas of Keonjhar, Bhuyan-Juanga-Pidha, Telkio, Ghatgaon, Patna, Champua and Barbil have borne the brunt of elephant depredation over the past few months. Locating the animals was important to drive then away from the forest-side villages. After deliberations with elephant experts, we resorted to the GPS tracking, and it is paying dividends," he said.

Nearly 230 contractual employees, with the assistance of forest officials, are keeping 24x7 watch in batches on the movement of the elephants armed with GPS. Once the elephants are tracked, their location is transmitted to the district control room, which then alerts the patrolling team nearby to drive them away from human habitations, Joshi said.

Technology has made tracking movements of wild elephants and their corridors easier, he said.

Five people have died, while 30 others suffered injuries in elephant attacks since January. Over 100 houses have been damaged by herds, while the extent of damage caused to farmland is yet be assessed, said a forest official.

The GPS-tracking teams spotted 85 elephants on Thursday night. The Champua forest range, which is the worst-hit, recorded 28 jumbos.

Of the 85 elephants tracked, around 20 came from forested areas in Jharkhand and Bengal. Patrolling squads have stepped up watch in those areas to curb possible outbreaks of man-elephant conflict. An official said there have been no reports of elephants causing damage to life and property in the past week.

A herd of 32 elephants from the Jayanta reserve forest in Jharkhand had recently intruded into the forest-side villages in Champua, wreaking havoc in over a dozen human settlements.

The herd had damaged several houses at the villages and ravaged crop fields. However, they were tracked by the GPS and were successfully chased back.

Deforestation has caused the elephant habitat to shrink in Jharkhand. As a result, they migrate to Champua in search of food and water, paving the way for frequent man-elephant conflicts in Keonjhar, said a forest official.

Unlike tigers, elephants are not territorial and migrate over long distances.

Their movement out of their original habitats to enter human habitations triggers conflicts.

The outbreak of man-elephant conflicts has become a recurring phenomenon in 44 forest divisions in the state.

Encroachments from village residents, who live and forage or graze cattle in the protected parks and wildlife sanctuaries, conferred the status of habitation corridors for elephants, has given rise to frequent confrontations between humans and elephants, said a wildlife activist.

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Success in jumbo tracking - Tech support to curb man-elephant conflicts

Keonjhar: The state forest department's decision to introduce global positioning systems (GPS) to track elephants and curb the jumbo menace near human habitations in the forest division has started to yield dividends.

"The GPS trackers introduced in the division's seven elephant-interference-prone forest ranges have achieved a certain degree of success in tackling man-elephant conflict," said Keonjhar's divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi.

"Villages under the forested areas of Keonjhar, Bhuyan-Juanga-Pidha, Telkio, Ghatgaon, Patna, Champua and Barbil have borne the brunt of elephant depredation over the past few months. Locating the animals was important to drive then away from the forest-side villages. After deliberations with elephant experts, we resorted to the GPS tracking, and it is paying dividends," he said.

Nearly 230 contractual employees, with the assistance of forest officials, are keeping 24x7 watch in batches on the movement of the elephants armed with GPS. Once the elephants are tracked, their location is transmitted to the district control room, which then alerts the patrolling team nearby to drive them away from human habitations, Joshi said.

Technology has made tracking movements of wild elephants and their corridors easier, he said.

Five people have died, while 30 others suffered injuries in elephant attacks since January. Over 100 houses have been damaged by herds, while the extent of damage caused to farmland is yet be assessed, said a forest official.

The GPS-tracking teams spotted 85 elephants on Thursday night. The Champua forest range, which is the worst-hit, recorded 28 jumbos.

Of the 85 elephants tracked, around 20 came from forested areas in Jharkhand and Bengal. Patrolling squads have stepped up watch in those areas to curb possible outbreaks of man-elephant conflict. An official said there have been no reports of elephants causing damage to life and property in the past week.

A herd of 32 elephants from the Jayanta reserve forest in Jharkhand had recently intruded into the forest-side villages in Champua, wreaking havoc in over a dozen human settlements.

The herd had damaged several houses at the villages and ravaged crop fields. However, they were tracked by the GPS and were successfully chased back.

Deforestation has caused the elephant habitat to shrink in Jharkhand. As a result, they migrate to Champua in search of food and water, paving the way for frequent man-elephant conflicts in Keonjhar, said a forest official.

Unlike tigers, elephants are not territorial and migrate over long distances.

Their movement out of their original habitats to enter human habitations triggers conflicts.

The outbreak of man-elephant conflicts has become a recurring phenomenon in 44 forest divisions in the state.

Encroachments from village residents, who live and forage or graze cattle in the protected parks and wildlife sanctuaries, conferred the status of habitation corridors for elephants, has given rise to frequent confrontations between humans and elephants, said a wildlife activist.

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Safe passage for Odisha wildlife put on track

BHUBANESWAR: With growing expansion of railway networks cutting through critical wildlife habitats, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has lent a hand to Odisha for creation of passages for wild animals,elephants to be particular, as part of mitigation measures that can prevent casualties on the tracks.

The Wildlife Wing of the State Government has submitted a proposal to DG (Forests) which will be placed before the Rail Ministry for financial support. On April 28, DG (Forests) Sidhanta Das wrote to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) SS Srivastava informing Prabhu’s interest to support construction of under and overpasses to prevent death of wild animals due to train accidents.The Wildlife Wing’s proposal includes construction of underpasses at 14 points in three forest divisions of the State, sources said.

One underpass has been proposed in Berhampur Forest Division where five jumbos were killed by
Coromondal Express five years back. Of the 11 proposals under Keonjhar Forest Division, three are
planned between Keonjhar and Nayagarh under East Coast Railway, seven between Nayagarh and
Padapahad and one between Keonjhar and Harichandanpur under South Eastern Railway. Similarly, under Athagarh Forest Division, one underpass has been planned along Joranda RoadRaj Athagarh.

In Keonjhar and Rairakhole Divisions, girder fencing has been proposed at six places which are used
by elephant as passages. These rail fencings include Keonjhar­Banspani segment and the stretch from
Rungta mines to Nayagarh. Since wild animals, mostly elephants, fall victim to trains after failing to assess their speed, the Wildlife Wing has also proposed nine segments where pace of the trains has to be controlled.

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Security: GPS fitted on two elephants in Kodagu

In an unique attempt, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices have been installed on the collars of two tamed elephants at Dubare elephant camp in Kushalnagar. It is for the first time that GPS has been installed on elephants.

Two elephants that have got the privilege of GPS are Ranjan (4) and Shivagange (11). With the installation of GPS on Saturday, the path on which the elephants walk could be traced through the internet enabled system...


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