The Gudalur Forest Division has detailed the reasons for increasing incidents of problematic human-elephant interaction in O’Valley, identifying planting of fruiting trees that attract elephants, and blockages to elephant movement as being the key drivers of conflict.
In a statement, the Gudalur Forest Division said it was proactively taking steps to minimise problematic interactions between humans and elephants in O’Valley range, including deploying five kumki elephants from Theppakadu to drive away wild elephants from near human habitations, increasing deployment of field staff including Rapid Response Teams, anti-poaching watchers and anti-depradation squad members, drone cameras to monitor elephant movement, installing early warning systems, controlled fires and smoke at entry point to villages to deter elephants, continuous monitoring of elephants, providing transport to public and other measures.
However, human activity in the landscape is also exacerbating conditions that lead to problematic interactions between elephants and humans, the statement added.
“Jackfruits, banana plantations and areca nut plantations are enticing the elephant (OVT1, known by locals as Radhakrishnan and believed to have killed two persons recently) towards human habitations. O’Valley is an important elephant corridor which connects Nilambur North Forest Division in Kerala with the Nilgiris Division, Gudalur Forest Division and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu which is an important pathway for maintaining genetic diversity of elephant populations of South India.
“During the present season, elephants move back from Nilambur towards Mudumalai via O’Valley. In O’Valley range, elephants move through fragmented forest patches, tea, coffee, clove, cardamom estates, and human habitations. Encroachments, janmam lands and section 17 land issues resulted in the fragmentation of contiguous forests into many patches. Being a long range animal, when it moves from one fragment to other fragments through tea gardens and human habitations, the human-elephant interactions become inevitable in such landscapes,” the statement added.
The Forest Department also went onto state that human activity in the region has led to a significant reduction in forest cover over the last few decades, with human settlements spread out over a large area, making it difficult for the Department to provide adequate protection from elephants moving through the landscape.
“Most of the crops like jackfruit, areca nut, plantains, coconut, avacado, cardamom are favorite foods of elephants and they are available in plenty only at the human habitations or near labour lines of plantation estates. This is one of the major reason that the jumbos enter the human habitations,” the statement added.
