The special elephant squad formed by the Forest Department to address man-animal conflict and elephant attacks in the Attapady region is finding it tough to operate.
The squad’s operations are significant in the context that within the last two months, two people were gored to death by elephants.
Water shortage
Acute water shortage is said to be a reason for the rising man-animal conflict.
But lack of facilities for operation is earning the squad, comprising a forester, a guard, five reserve forest watchers, and two field staff on daily wages, the wrath of the affected people.
Making the situation further difficult, the lone vehicle allotted for the squad has been under repair for the past seven months.
Hindrances in sanctioning funds for conducting some important repair work on the old vehicle are causing the delay. Now, the squad uses vehicles of other sections of the department on a rotational basis to meet emergencies.
“In the Tamil Nadu side, the elephant squad has permission to use rubber bullets on elephants that raid farm lands. In Kerala, there is no such permission. That is one reason for the growing resentment of the local community against us,” said a squad member who requested anonymity. The squad is only permitted to use mild crackers to scare away the pachyderms, which move into farmlands from the Silent Valley and other forests in the locality.
“It was only last week that millet cultivated in five acres of land by a few tribal families had been raided by wild elephants. But the crackers used by the squad failed to scare them away,” M. Sukumaran of Attappady Samrakshana Samithy said.
The department had handed over five special search lights to tribal hamlets in Vattilakki and Gonchiyur recently.
The lights, if trained on the eyes of elephants, would force them to retreat from farmlands.
The squad is now demanding such lights for each tribal hamlet in the Attappady region.