GUWAHATI, Sept 19 – The man-elephant conflict in the State, which has come to symbolize one of the worst man-animal conflict situations in the world, has shown little signs of abatement with the year 2005 witnessing the death of 34 elephants and 35 people. The figures for the current year (till August) do not inspire any confidence either — at 18 and 17 casualties for elephant and humans respectively.
Equally grim is the overall statistics since 2001. As many as 239 people have been killed by elephants, while 265 elephants have died in this five-year-eight-month period. Of the elephant deaths, 60-odd were natural deaths (including tiger attack, disease, infighting and senility) while poisoning, electrocution, accidents, poaching, etc., took a heavy toll, accounting for most of the fatalities. In some cases, the cause of death could not be ascertained. The figures are as per Forest Department data.
The worsening situation has its roots in the rampant destruction of forests all over the State. The State of Forest Report-2005 puts the State’s dense forest cover loss at an astonishing 2,788 sq km during 2001-2003.
The districts of Sonitpur, Golaghat, Goalpara and Nagaon have been particularly vulnerable to the menace of man-elephant conflict in the recent past. These also happen to be the areas where destruction and encroachment of forests have been widespread.
“The man-elephant conflict has been alarming in the State and needs urgent attention of the Government. Restoring at least some of the lost forests and known elephant corridors besides preventing any further loss to the existing forest cover is the only viable long-term solution,” a Forest official says, adding that political will is a must to tackle the problem.
At present the Forest Department as well as the WWF-India are trying to contain the situation by initiating anti-depredation measures including the use of kunkis (trained elephants) to drive off herds of wild elephants that descend on cropland and human habitation in search of food. The drive has met with some success in areas but experts feel that this cannot be a permanent solution unless the all-important issue of deforestation is addressed.
The prevailing situation has adversely affected the elephant population in the north-eastern States, as all of them have recorded a decreasing trend over the years. The North-east is one of the last few strongholds of the Asian elephant and the present predicament bodes ill for the future of the pachyderm.
Another consequence of the conflict is that it has soured the age-old relationship between the people and the elephants in the State. The elephant, a much-respected animal for its strength and stately demeanour as also its utility to mankind, now stands as a most despicable enemy for many following the catastrophic consequences of the conflict. Destruction of cropland and property besides the mounting human casualties has contributed to this transformation of the benevolent animal into a sworn adversary.
A dispassionate analysis of the situation, however, makes it clear that humans are solely responsible for the crisis. “Elephants are migrating animals and they need large areas for their movement. Wanton destruction of forests has compelled them to turn to cropland and human settlements in search of food,” conservationist Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury says.
It is a fact that most of the areas that suffer from elephant depredations were once verdant forests or elephant corridors. And given the rate at which forests continue to vanish in the State and the North-east, a global biodiversity hotspot, the situation can only worsen in the days to come.
