Elephant-human conflict: Experts call upon for better understanding, mitigation measures

Dr Navaneethan, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India's specialist in elephant conservation opined that better understanding and better mitigation measures could avoid human loss in Telangana.

Mancherial: Experts of a day-long circle level workshop on managing human-elephant conflict called for better understanding of the problem and mitigation measures to avoid human loss. The event, chaired by Field Director to Kawal Tiger Reserve S Shantharam, was organised here on Tuesday.

Dr Navaneethan, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India’s specialist in elephant conservation opined that better understanding and better mitigation measures could avoid human loss in Telangana. He said that 300 elephants inhabiting Chhattisgarh were dispersing to different parts of India. He added that better management can reduce elephant-human conflict. He underlined the need to create awareness among stakeholders.

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Dr Kuldeep Roy, WWF-West Bengal assistant manager, called for a five pronged strategy such as creation of village of protection networks (VPN), anti-depredation squads (ADS), elephant guiding programme, community based conservation management (CBCM), presentation of signage on does and don’ts in regional languages.

Collector Badavath Santosh said efforts were on to ensure food for elephants by planting fruit bearing trees. He urged officials to procure security vehicles, drone cameras and other equipment to handle the elephants in future.

Earlier, Bhoominathan, landscape coordinator of WWF delved on demography of elephant behavior and range expansion. He said that the elephant entered Telangana as part of its exploration. Kumram Bheem Asifabad District Forest Officer Neeraj Kumar Tebriwal explained measures taken to tackle the elephant.