Aimed at reducing the rapidly growing human-elephant conflict in areas of Chhattisgarh, where nearly 20 human lives were lost because of attacks by a herd of 19 elephants, the State Forest Department in collaboration with Wildlife SOS has radio-collared a wild elephant to help create an early warning system and save human lives.
Wildlife SOS raised funds to procure the radio collars and deployed a dedicated team of biologists and researchers to understand the problem in depth.
“The 19-strong herd led by a matriarch (older female elephant) leads the group to agricultural farms that border the forest areas in Mahasamund to eat crops at night as the forest does not have sufficient nutrition for them. When villagers try to drive them away to protect their crops, the elephants panic and run helter-skelter, causing damage to crops, property and also human lives,” noted a release issued by Wildlife SOS.
“Wildlife SOS and the Chhattisgarh Forest Department deployed a team of elephant trackers who tracked the herd every single day for several months to understand their movement patterns. This was not only risky but also quite dangerous. After several repeated attempts, the team of veterinarians and biologists was finally successful in tranquilising and radio-collaring the matriarch of the herd. This will now help to map the movement of the herd and set up early warning systems,” said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and CEO, Wildlife SOS.
