The single largest global population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) can be found in Bangalore's backyard. In a stretch extending from Bannerghatta to MM Hills and further across BRT, Bandipur to Nagarhole and Wayanad (part of what is called Mysore Elephant Corridor), one can find over 6,000 elephants. But foolishly, we fail to see them as we eye the jungles as potential real estate to build our homes and lay our crops.

Sixty-five percent of Asian elephants live here in India with its 1.2 billion human population. In an area getting squeezed out every moment, conflicts are bound to increase. According to Wildlife Trust of India, India loses 200 elephants due to humans every year.

The 1992 task force that drew a conservation road map for elephants looked at essentially three aspects of the problem: identifying crucial elephant corridors, habitat enrichment and conflict solving. Approximately 88 corridors have been identified which represent narrow strips of land that allow elephants to move from one (shrinking) habitat to another.

One of the major threats facing elephants, as much as poaching, is the shrinking and fragmentation of land. With pressure from land holdings encroaching on forest lands, the country has been witnessing elephant-human clashes and reports of 'rogue' elephants dying of bullet shots, electric shock and speeding trains have become commonplace.

Criss-crossed by roads

Take for instance, the Bannerghatta national park, a vital lung space for Bangaloreans. The roughly 102 sq km is a highly fragmented area with over 800 encroachments in and around the park. Six enclosures are right inside the park and comprise 150 villages. The perimeter for area ratio is greatest here showing the intense pressure from habitation, leading to elephant-human conflicts and deaths. While human deaths have been nil in the 2006-07 period, crop damages have seen over 700 cases, requiring around Rs 10 lakh in compensation. There was no elephant death. This is attributed by the forest officials to the upkeep of the elephant trench.

But every time winter sets in, clashes are expected. The forest guards have tough time on their hands with roads that run right through the park at the narrow bottleneck region at the centre. There are two BDA roads that run through the park as also the Harohalli-Anekal road. More are planned with a satellite ring road that will cut right through the BNP.

The BDA peripheral ring road runs across the northern tip of the park, taking away 8 acres. This was laid to avoid 400 habitats of the weaver's colony near Gottigere village. These villages are all part of the encroached forest land. But in the case of the peripheral ring road, the Forest Department turned it into its advantage by asking for compensation land around a vital and narrow elephant corridor in the south (between Madheswara and Karadigal).

Why is it the BDA and other planners do not involve the Forest Department while proposing road plans. According to the National Wildlife Action Plan 2002-2016, the Ministry of Surface Transport and the Ministry of Railways are to plan roads so that all national parks and sanctuaries are bypassed. Wildlife corridors also need to be avoided or mitigative measures  need to be employed.

Any development activities inside protected areas require permission from the MoEF and the National Board of Wildlife. Despite that, layouts spring in parks! Fortunately, due to Lok Ayukta intervention, the Turahalli forest land in BNP, acquired by BDA for layouts, was reclaimed back!

The development of the Mysore Elephant Reserve to run across the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and Bandipur and Nagarhole sanctuaries will help create a connection between isolated patches and allow for elephant migration unhampered. This stretch from Kodagu to Chamarajanagar to Kanakapura has the largest elephant population in the State, according to officials.

Unless serious conservation is undertaken, the elephant population will be wiped out in 300 years, warn experts. It is heartening to hear that the government is taking note of the crisis. According to director, Project Elephant, A N Prasad, the Planning Commission is giving importance to elephant conservation and a working group gave many recommendations. The 11th Plan, he said, will focus on elephant corridors. The 10th Plan had allocated Rs 43 crore for Project Elephant, of which Rs 10 crore was used towards compensation in conflict cases. "From now, the Planning Commission wants a 5-year action plan with clear monitorable parameters. We need to bring in more experts and institutions to play a role in this five-year plan."

Ecological isolation

Isolation of any species in an area has many implications. One is the destruction of the habitat which does not have enough time to regenerate. Evolution of species is affected; with inbreeding on the rise, more and more cases of attenuation of tusks and antlers will become the norm, warn experts. (In Bannerghatta there are 85 resident elephants that stay put. While park officials ascribe this to healthy nutrition and water availability, some others wonder. "The fact that the migration route is cut off at the north means they are trapped and that is not healthy. Migration is necessary to allow the forest to regenerate," said an expert.)

A novel approach to solving the corridor problem was the recent handing over of land connecting elephant habitats by non-profit organisations to the government.  WTI and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) purchased 25.5 acres of land and handed this to the department to ensure right of passage for over 1,000 elephants from BRT Wildlife Sanctuary to Kollegal forest reserve. The strip of land between, known as Edayaragalli-Doddasampige corridor, is now part of the BRT Sanctuary and will hopefully get more protection.
So also another corridor linking Wayanad and Brahmagiri sanctuaries in Kerala was acquired from villagers who were rehabilitated, and handed to the Kerala Forest Department. This provides passage to over 5,000 elephants.
In many cases, as scientist Raman Sukumar said, people are also fed up of living in corridors with maximum conflicts and can be convinced through compensation packages to relocate.

In the north-east the situation is bad with elephant corridors actually becoming resettlement camps. In some like the Chilla-Motichur corridor, army ammunition dump and a canal has been dug through the corridor! One of the plans is to widen the existing bridge allowing elephants to cross across.

Elephants are keystone species for overall influence over other animals. They open up dense forest canopy by pushing down some fodder species to feed on bark and twigs, making room for fresh generation. They open up patches of clayey soil to obtain minerals and also disperse seeds of plants – some 30 percent of gigantic tree species and 40 percent of tall tree species depend on elephants for dispersal. Elephant leftovers are used by many other animals and insects, termites, fungi and butterflies! Asian woodlands would cease to exist without elephants. So also a host of other species.

If we care, it is time we left our jungles intact. Let's build our high-rise apartments, flyovers and roads away from the forests. So also our paddy and sugarcane fields. Let us give the wildlife some breathing space.

Why they raid

The fields with palatable crops have become 'departmental stores' attracting elephants, say authors C H Basappanavar and K M Kaveriappa of 'Romancing the elephant'. They cite studies that show a relation between browse species in forests and food crops grown by villagers in the land adjoining forests. The tropical grasses that elephants feed on have similar protein structure to sugarcane, sorghum, rice and finger millet. They substitute for wet season food source like grass, showing that elephants cannot distinguish between cultivated crop and natural fodder species. Restricted to small patches where nutrition is not sufficient, what else can the hapless beasts do?

Often herds during their migration visit their home range which has now been taken over by cultivated fields. Changing cropping pattern to crops like tobacco and cotton have shown to help ward elephant crop raids. Beating drums, shining torches and throwing stones are unsafe, note the authors while maintaining a trench and solar wire fencing to give a mild electric shock are best. Sprinkling tiger urine and red chilli powder are some measures tried in places and shown to work while the best solution would be to provide salt licks and water holes along park boundaries.
According to the authors, about 3-5 sq km forest is needed to support one elephant without upsetting the natural balance. At present, there are said to be around 6,000 elephants in the State in an area approx 6,000 sq km.

Off track!

Animal deaths on highways running through national parks are also common and nothing can be done besides erecting road blocks and causing traffic speed to be lessened. And perhaps have more check posts to slow down the vehicles.

Unfortunately, conversion of railway lines from metre to broad gauge continue, unmindful of the dangers to animals from increased traffic and speeding trains.

In such a scenario, all that can be left to do are initiatives like those undertaken by WTI to tackle the problem of elephant deaths due to train hits in the Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand.

"We conducted studies to understand the time of passages of elephants as also the points. The trains could then be slowed in certain tracts and at certain times. Convincing the railways to have tow dead halts which will not take more than two minutes also helped. When crossing over for water the elephants got trapped in the high embankments flanking the railway track. So cutting down embankments helped, as also providing enough waterholes. Slowing down train speed over blind curves was another step. We also identified a crucial stretch and deployed patrolling. In fact, on many occasions, our people on patrol were able to stop a train in time and save elephants," said Vivek Menon, executive director, WTI. "It has resulted in a decline in elephant deaths. In fact, in the last six years, there has not been a single elephant death on the tracks."

The Railways has shown interest to extend the scheme to seven other states where such deaths are frequent, he said. High tension wires which are illegally tapped pose another grave danger to elephants, Menon said, while adding that in Assam it was the tea garden irrigation ditches that posed a deathly trap. These are being addressed now.