Tusker raids Tamil Nadu villages, brings other jumbos

COIMBATORE: At a time when the translocated tusker Vinayagan has
started to mingle with a wild herd in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, his
companion Chinna Thambi continues to raid villages at Thadagam Valley,
and often brings a herd along with him. “The tusker, Chinna Thambi,
continues to enter human habitations even after Vinayagan was
translocated. At times, he brings a herd along with him and raids crops,”
said a source in the forest department.

About two months ago, the tusker was found with a herd comprising four
male elephants. But a few days ago, he was found roaming with a herd
that included a female elephant and its calf, the source said, adding that
Tusker raids Tamil Nadu villages, brings other jumbos the tusker has been changing its herd.

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Wasim, the giant, arrives to strengthen kumki squad

COIMBATORE: Kumki elephant Wasim from the Mudumalai Elephant Camp has reached the district to intensify the operation to drive away the two wild elephants that have been raiding human habitation on the Thadagam Valley.

The department was using kumkis Vijay and Bommi from the Mudumalai camp and Cheran and John from the Sadivayal Elephant Camp for the last one month to chase away wild elephants Vinayakan and Chinna Thambi. John was sent back to the camp as he was in musth.

Wasim, who is a huge tusker, will replace John, chief conservator of forest (CCF) Deepak Srivastava said. “Vinayakan, who weighs over 4.5tonnes, will be difficult to control. We will use negative conditioning on him. As soon as he is spotted, we will administer a mild dose of tranquillizer to control aggression. The kumkis will then be able to dominate the scene and drive him back to the forest,” he told TOI. “If our efforts fail, we will be forced to take the last option, which is translocating the tusker.”

The decision was taken based on the elephant expert’s opinion, Srivastava said. Elephant expert Ajay Desai, who had been studying the behaviour of the wild tuskers from Monday, had submitted his recommendations to the department on Thursday.

Meanwhile, district forest officer (DFO) D Venkatesh has submitted the report after analyzing the damaged caused by the tuskers in the last one month after the deployment of the kumkis. “More or less, equal amount of damage – both on property and crops – was caused by the tuskers even after the deployment of the kumkis. While the kumki operation has been carried out till the late evenings, the tuskers have been raiding the human habitations between dawn and dusk,” said Venkatesh.

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Experts rule out translocating wild elephants

An expert team led Ajay Desai, a consultant for the World Wildlife Fund
and member of Asian elephants specialist group of International Union for
Conservation of Nature, has suggested against translocating wild
elephants – Vinayakan and Chinna Thambi – from the Thadagam Valley.

The team has been camping near the valley since Monday and studying
the movements of both the wild elephants.

The team has also opined that the use of kumkhi elephants to chase both
the wild elephants into forest would be ineffective. It cited the weight of
the wild elephants higher than the kumkhis brought in to chase them into
forest. The final report of the team will be submitted to the forest department on Friday.

“Translocating Vinyakan and Chinna Thambi is not a solution to solve the current problem in Thadagam Valley,” said a source in the team.

“Even if the wild elephants are translocated, other elephants who migrate to the region would continue entering human habitations. There is no study conducted in Tamil Nadu to know the success rate of translocation of elephants,” the source said.

For the past few months, Vinayakan and Chinna Thambi have been entering human habitations and raiding farmlands in Thadagam Valley. Six people, including a forest staff, had died since the conflict began.

While farmers have been demanding the forest department to translocate the wild elephants, the department has roped in Ajay Desai to recommend solution for the problem.

To solve the human-elephant conflict permanently, a detailed study should be conducted to understand what drives the elephants out of forest, the source said.

There might be several reasons, including loss of elephant habitat inside the forest and encroachment on elephant corridors, for the elephants to enter human habitations.

“Physical barriers like elephant-proof trenches (EPT) and fencing should be strengthened to prevent elephants entering the human habitations,” the source added.

In the past nine years, the elephants in the region did not migrate to other locations. Over a period, they have shrunk their home range between Marudhamalai and Palamalai. “One of the reasons might be because of the easy availability of food and water throughout the year at the farmlands,” the source said. Elephants, in general, migrate based on the availability of food and water.

An official from the forest department said, “Though Chinna Thambi reacts whenever we try to chase them away with kumkhis, Vinayakan continues to ignore the kumkhis as it is bigger than them in size. Even in its musth period, Vinayakan neither searches for a partner nor mingles with herds.”

“While Chinna Thambi is over 3.8 tonnes, Vinayakan is over 4.5 tonnes. Since the kumkhis are not bigger than the tuskers, it is difficult for them to drive away. Only upon deploying jumbo kumkhis along with experienced mahouts, the tuskers could be chased into forest. This is also a temporary solution only,” an expert said.

Meanwhile, CCF of Coimbatore circle Deepak Srivastava said a final decision would be taken only after the recommendations were submitted by the expert team.

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Individual profiling of elephants to be done

To create a database of wild elephants that frequently enter human habitations, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has recommended individual profiling of such elephants.

Apart from helping in easy identification and monitoring of an individual elephant, the profiling will help the Forest Department keep a record of its behaviour pattern and movement in a given forest area.

“WWF has already given training to the frontline staff of the Department in four forest ranges in Coimbatore division -- Periyanaickenpalayam, Karamadai, Mettupalayam and Sirumugai. The staff are trained to record peculiar identification features of an individual elephant for the profiling. Training for the staff in other forest ranges will be held soon,” said D. Boominathan, landscape coordinator of WWF-India.

Forest guards, forest watchers, anti-poaching watchers and members of the rapid response team were trained to document individual elephants.

Profiling of an elephant will include details such as its approximate height, age, gender, shape of tusks (in case of a male elephant), shape of tail, pattern of ears and any unique identification mark.

“A sample profiling done for tusker Vinayagan has included the unique pattern of the brush of its tail which itself will help identify the individual animal. The pattern of the elephant's tusks are also unique as they are uneven. It has also got a tear in one of its ears,” said Mr. Boominathan.

The profiling in first stage will involve documenting the unique features of elephants and giving them names like 'E1' (for elephant 1) and 'M1' (for makhna 1). In the second stage, photos of the individual elephants including views from the front, sides, back and photos of the unique identification marks will be added to the profiling.

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Elephants not scared of crackers

Keonjhar: Fire crackers no longer scare elephants in the district because of their excessive use by forest personnel to drive away the animals straying into human habitations.

The Champua forest range is badly hit by straying wild elephants into villages and farmlands.

The elephants intrude into village almost around the year which is why keeping them at bay remains a continuous task for the forest department, said Champua forest range officer Ghanashyam Barik.

The department has pressed into service 50 personnel in the elephant chase squad.

Additionally, 150 honorary volunteers, comprising local people, assist them in the operations. The bursting of crackers to disperse the animals is an effective and time-tested method.

Besides, the elephant squad beats drums and tin cans to drive back the elephants into the forest.

Lately, cracker-bursting has not been yielding the desired result because these intelligent animals are no more scared of the noise.

The animals have got accustomed to the loud sounds and are not scared of it any more, said a forest official.

Besides, the release of funds for procuring crackers is erratic.

The high-decibel crackers used for elephant chasing are locally made. The department is yet to pay the outstanding credit to the local cracker traders, said the forest official.

Three herds with 32 elephants in total are now inside villages and crop areas in the Champua forest range, which is largely a plain area with rich cover of dense forest.

The area is also marked by vast reserve of crop fields and orchards. As traversing through the plain area is less strenuous, elephants from Telkoi, Sadar, Ghatagaon, Joda and Barbil forest areas frequent Champua.

Mining operations, besides shortage of fodder in the natural forests, is the main cause for elephants venturing into human habitations.

The shortage happens primarily due to large scale felling of trees for timber, forest fires, rampant harvesting of fruits in summer and cutting off fodder creepers such as Siali, the forest official said.


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Jumbo herd wreaks havoc in Assam’s Udalguri district; elephant menace prevails in Numaligarh region

Conflict between man and elephant seems to be a never ending story in Assam. The regions of Harisinga and Paneri in Udalguri district is seeing pianic spread among the local people over the increased presence of wild elephants in the area.

A large herd of elephants has damaged human habitations and crops. Large number of elephants have been roaming in broad daylight. The lackadaisical attitude of the forest department has forced the local people to take certain measures to drive off elephants from their villages and farmlands.

Apart from Udalguri, elephant menace is also being witnessed in Assam’s Sundarpur region near Numaligarh where packs of jumbos have being raiding at human settlements and destroying crops.

People are spending sleepeless while fearing for their lives and properties due to the jumbo menace. Man-elephant conflict has become an almost regular affair in the region around Numaligarh.


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Elderly woman killed by wild elephant in C'garh

A septuagenarian woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Korba district of Chhattisgarh this morning, police said.

The victim, identified as Nevarthin Bai (78), was attacked by the pachyderm when she had gone to collect forest produce from the forest adjacent to her village Sakdukala in Kartala forest range, a forest official said.


"She spotted the pachyderm in the forest, after which she tried to escape. However, the elephant chased and attacked her, in which she died on the spot," he said.

The local villagers spotted her body and informed the police and forest officials, following which they rushed to the spot, he said.

The woman's body has been sent for the post-mortem, he said adding that a case has been registered in this connection.

"The kin of the deceased were given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 by the forest department, while the remaining compensation amount of Rs 3.75 lakh will be disbursed after completing all the formalities in this connection," the official said.

With this incident, so far three people, including two women, have been killed in elephant attacks at separate places in the district, the official said.

Forest personnel have been directed to keep an eye on the movement of elephants in the area to avoid human-jumbo conflicts and drive them away from the human habitations, he added.

The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Korea districts, are notorious for human-elephant conflict.

The region has witnessed killings of several tribals and widespread damages to houses and crops by rogue elephants in the past few years.


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Jumbo tramples man to death

Balangir: A jumbo trampled a man to death at Ghuchang village of Kantamal forest range in Boudh district on Tuesday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Bharat Bagarty, 35, of nearby Kutakheta village. The Kantamal forest range officer has reached the spot to take stock of the situation. The incident has created panic among the villagers in the area.

Sources said the incident occurred when Bagarty was going to Kantamal on a bicycle with his friend to attend a meeting. While riding through the forest road near Ghuchang village, the duo came face to face with a herd of elephants. Both tried to flee the spot leaving their bicycle behind. While Bagarty's friend had a narrow escape, he could not escape the elephant attack.

Villagers attribute such incidents to lack of water and food in the forest for the wild animal. Kantamal resident Shantanu Pradhan said wild animals, especially the elephants, were often straying into human habitations because of want of food and water in the forest. "Not much is done by the forest department to ensure sufficient water and food for animals in the forest. This makes them stray into human habitations resulting in such tragic incident like this one. Water scarcity is acute in the forest of the Kantamal range during the summer. This elephants' herd must have come near the village in search of water," he said.

Kantamal forest range officer-in-charge Saroj Kumar Mishra said the family of the deceased would be compensated according to the government rule. "We are keeping tabs on the herd. We have recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem," Mishra said.


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Elephant caught in forest dept’s power fencing electrocuted

Malappuram: At a time when the local people in Nilambur are intensifying their agitation demanding an electric fence to prevent wild animals from entering their farm lands, a 15-year-old cow elephant was electrocuted after coming into contact with an electric fencing in the region on Sunday night.

The incident occurred near the Padukka forest station in Moothedam panchayat. The forest authorities have registered a case and have started a detailed investigation.

Divisional forest officer of Nilambur (South) V P Sajikumar said the preliminary examination of the carcass shows that the death was due to electrocution. “There was a power fencing installed by forest authorities in the region and the animal was found trapped in its wires. We suspect that the animal was in contact with the wires for many hours and that led to the death,” he said, adding that only a detailed investigation will reveal the real reason for the death.

Hundreds of residents in the area, including tribes people in the forest bordering villages like Moothedam, Marutha and Edakara, have been spending sleepless nights for last some days with wild elephants moving into human habitations, mainly in search of jackfruits.

The herd of elephants which has already caused damage of acres of land is still wandering in the area. Fresh incidents of elephant attacks have been reported from Aranadam Padam, Unichantham, Maddalappara and Marutha areas. Plantains, arecanut trees and coconut trees were destroyed at Aranadam Padam when a tusker unleashed an attack on Saturday.


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Jumbo tramples man to death

Balangir: A jumbo trampled a man to death at Ghuchang village of Kantamal forest range in Boudh district on Tuesday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Bharat Bagarty, 35, of nearby Kutakheta village. The Kantamal forest range officer has reached the spot to take stock of the situation. The incident has created panic among the villagers in the area.

Sources said the incident occurred when Bagarty was going to Kantamal on a bicycle with his friend to attend a meeting. While riding through the forest road near Ghuchang village, the duo came face to face with a herd of elephants. Both tried to flee the spot leaving their bicycle behind. While Bagarty's friend had a narrow escape, he could not escape the elephant attack.

Villagers attribute such incidents to lack of water and food in the forest for the wild animal. Kantamal resident Shantanu Pradhan said wild animals, especially the elephants, were often straying into human habitations because of want of food and water in the forest. "Not much is done by the forest department to ensure sufficient water and food for animals in the forest. This makes them stray into human habitations resulting in such tragic incident like this one. Water scarcity is acute in the forest of the Kantamal range during the summer. This elephants' herd must have come near the village in search of water," he said.

Kantamal forest range officer-in-charge Saroj Kumar Mishra said the family of the deceased would be compensated according to the government rule. "We are keeping tabs on the herd. We have recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem," Mishra said.


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People in Assam’s Charaideo plant 6 lakh saplings to ward off wild elephants

Hundreds of people came together in Charaideo district of Assam to plan more than six lakh saplings between 11-12pm on Sunday to make people aware about man-animal conflict and ward off elephants from their paddy fields.


The villagers decided to cultivate paddy exclusively for wild elephants in a reserve forest. This has been aimed to keep off marauding herds from paddy fields in nearby human habitation. Man-elephant conflicts is a major problem in the region and people for long have been using different methods to keep off wild elephants – like poison, chilli bombs, electrified fence and even bee hives.

Sonari MLA Tapan Kumar Gogoi, who participated in the plantation drive along with a host of dignitaries, said that the district has been worst affected by the human-elephant conflicts which has taken several lives of humans and the elephants as well.

“Today we have planted a good number of banana, bamboo and elephant-apple saplings along the reserve forest areas. These are favourite foods of elephants. I think once these trees grow up, the elephants will stop coming to the residential areas. We are also planning to plant paddy seeds in and around reserve forests in the open places,” Gogoi told The News Mill on Sunday.

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Forest department clears elephant proof trenches to prevent man-animal conflict during summer

With summer setting in, increasing the possibility of elephants coming out of forest into human habitations in search of fodder and water, the forest department has started clearing elephant proof trenches in the district.The forest department has completed desilting of trenches and removal of bushes along forest boundary in Madukkarai, P N Palayam and Thadagam areas under Project Kaliru, an initiative to mitigate human-elephant conflict.

“Trenches in other places will be cleared by March end,’’ said district forest officer N Satheesh.Elephant proof trenches (EPT) have been dug for a cumulative length of 153km in seven forest ranges of the district to ensure that elephants from the forests do not enter human habitations and agricultural land adjoining the jungles.

Over a period, especially during the monsoon, silt would deposit in these trenches decreasing their depth.

Shrubs would also grow in these trenches requiring periodical clearance.

Villagers living along the forest boundary have welcomed the desilting of trenches.

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Avoid conflict with wild elephants, villagers told

As part of creating awareness, Forest Department staff are distributing notices on precautions to avoid conflict with wild elephants. Forest Department staff creating awareness among villagers on precautions to be taken to avoid conflicts with wild animals in Sirumugai range in Coimbatore. Avoid night staysFarmers have been advised not to stay on farm lands during night and to avoid movement in the early hours of the day and after sunset. The notices also contain mobile numbers of Forest officials and field staff to alert about movement of animals in human habitations. They were also asked to avoid open spaces to attend nature's call during night and early hours.

Forest Department staff creating awareness among villagers on precautions to be taken to avoid conflicts with wild animals in Sirumugai range in Coimbatore.

| Photo Credit: HANDOUT_E_MAIL The Forest Department has intensified night patrolling in areas under Coimbatore Forest Division in view of more animals straying into farm lands in search of water and food during summer.

To avoid encounters with animals, the frontline staff of the Department are engaged in educating people living in villages on the periphery of forests on precautionary measures to be followed. Rapid Response Team Night patrolling and surveillance activities are handled by more than 140 anti-poaching watchers (APW) in different shifts.

Members of the newly formed Rapid Response Team also support APWs in conflict areas.

As part of creating awareness, Forest Department staff are distributing notices on precautions to avoid conflict with wild elephants. Avoid night stays Farmers have been advised not to stay on farm lands during night and to avoid movement in the early hours of the day and after sunset.

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