New Delhi (NVI): A wild bull elephant, who was raiding crops in Thimmasandra village of Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu was successfully tracked, radio-collared and translocated to a safe forest area by the state forest department and Wildlife SOS.
“Around 25-year-old Bull elephant was being targeted by the local communities as the human-elephant conflict was rising due to crop raiding in Tamil Nadu,” the Wildlife SOS said in a statement.
Forest Department and Wildlife SOS Veterinary team in a two-day operation successfully translocated the elephant to safe forest habitat, it said.
Farmers and other people from the village in Denkanikottai taluk of the district were bothered about their crops as well as lives and appealed to the Forest Department to relocate the elephant.
The wild bull elephant had started coming out of the forest and regularly visiting their agricultural fields to feed on their crops.
This habitual pattern resulted in severe crop loss combined with human-elephant conflict which endangered their lives and property.
After monitoring the situation, the Forest Department contacted Wildlife SOS and requested expert assistance to translocate the wild elephant to a safe forest area to help mitigate the human-elephant conflict.
A joint operation – ‘Moving jumbo to safety’ – was conducted by a four-member team of Wildlife SOS, the Forest Department and local police in the early hours yesterday.
Once the elephant was tracked and sedated using tranquilizers, it was gently moved in a large vehicle and safely relocated to a reserve forest a safe distance away to help ensure that human-elephant conflict is mitigated, the Wildlife SOS said in a statement.
Prior to setting the animal free, the elephant was also radio-collared by Forest Officers to ensure that they can track movement patterns of the bull elephant while monitoring his behaviour, crop-raiding patterns, the statement read.
Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder & CEO Wildlife SOS said, “Using Radio collars helps to create an early warning system which helps keep people and elephants both safe. Elephants in India are surviving in fragmented habitats that are human-dominated landscapes.
“With food easily available, in agricultural fields, crop-raiding elephants quickly get into conflict with people. This often results in tragic consequences for both humans and elephants. Quick action to stem such conflict will help prevent retaliation from local communities. Working with communities living in elephant areas to raise awareness about elephant conflict-avoidance behavior is essential to protect elephants.”
S Prabhu (IFS), DFO Hosur said, “Immediate action was needed to protect the elephants & people. We have worked with Wildlife SOS before, so we knew they would offer assistance to successfully translocate the elephant. Radio collaring will help in reducing stress on both humans and the elephant as it will alert people early, so preventive measures can be adopted immediately.”
Dr Arun A Sha Director- Research & Veterinary Operations, Wildlife SOS said, “In this case, we extended assistance to the Tamil Nadu Forest Dept to translocate the elephant to safe habitat with large watering holes and plenty of food. The conflict was successfully mitigated.”
The human-animal conflict, especially with regard to elephants in the country has become a sensitive matter now, after the tragic death of a pregnant elephant Kerala’s Malappuram recently after she was fed fire-cracker laden pineapple.
