Human fatalities from elephant attacks on the decline in Gudalur

‘Each night, 60-70 forest staff are deployed to keep tabs on elephants’

Preventive steps: Forest department staff in Gudalur division sharing information about the movement of elephant herds with tea estate workers.

A multi-pronged approach towards managing problematic human-elephant interactions is leading to fewer human fatalities due to elephant attacks in Gudalur in The Nilgiris district.

The recent death of 64-year-old A. Palaniyandi in O-Valley marked the second human fatality attributed to an elephant attack in Gudalur this year.

Recent methods adopted to nullify opportunities which could lead to problematic interactions between humans and elephants in the landscape has led to a gradual reduction in the number of injuries and fatalities to humans over the last few years.

Gradual reduction

From just a few years ago, when 13 persons had died in a single year in the region, the measures adopted by the Forest Department over the last few years has led to a gradual reduction in the number of fatalities, with only five deaths recorded since 2019. A major factor in the reduction in the number of problematic human-elephant interactions can be attributed to the continuous monitoring mechanism of elephant herds by the forest department which has been in place since 2017. Using this method, each elephant herd in each range in Gudalur is tracked throughout the day and into the night with the information communicated to local residents.

District Forest Officer, Gudalur division, Sumesh Soman, said that each night, anywhere between 60-70 forest staff are deployed throughout the division to keep tabs on elephants in the landscape, especially those individuals or herds that move close to human habitations. The Forest Department is continuously working on ways to refine and improve the methods they have been using.

Announcements made

Recently, all vehicles used by the forest department to conduct patrols, including the Rapid Response Team (RRT) vehicles, have been fitted with microphones to announce to local residents the movement patterns of elephant herds in the division. “This will ensure that announcements can be heard by people within a few square kilometres of where the elephants are at any given moment, and act as a warning system,” said a forest ranger attached to the Gudalur division.

“After the night patrols are completed, the same members, who had been tracking the elephants throughout the night, will also share information about the number of elephants, their last location and other details to tea estate workers who are entering the estates to work in the morning,” said Mr. Soman.

While the steps taken to minimise problematic human-elephant interactions has had a discernible impact on reducing human fatalities over the last few years, the five deaths recorded in 2019 and 2020 are those which could have been “prevented” with a little more caution, said forest department officials.