JOIN USExperts have made several recommendations to the government including long distance translocation of jumbos to resolve the man-animal conflict in Sakaleshpur taluk of Hassan district.
After a daylong workshop on Saturday organised by the Forest Department, Forest Minister C P Yogeeshwara said, that the experts have suggested that the area which holds small population of elephants is not viable for conservation. They have also suggested their translocation to a distant place. “We will catch those 25 jumbos and translocate them to a distant place on an experimental basis. If they return, we will capture them and keep them in captivity,” he said.
Citing the suggestion made by pachydermist Raman Sukumaran, he said good quality barriers will be set up in the high conflict zones at other places. “This will be based on the South African model and will be taken up involving community participation,” he said.
The Minister stated that the recommendations also include providing corridor connectivity and habitat restorations. The adoption of proper cropping pattern by the farmers along the conflict area has also been recommended, he added.
He said that the State government is also planning to provide APMC-fixed support price as compensation to farmers for crop damaged by the jumbos. “This way, the elephants will not be in danger of getting electrocuted or shot by angry farmers,” he said.
When questioned why they cannot be captured and kept in captivity instead of translocating and then capturing them, the Minister said that the government wants them to see the elephants in natural forests. “Translocation will be the last option,” he said.
He said that the translocation will be done at a cost of Rs 150 crore.
Earlier during the presentations, elephant expert Dr Ajay Desai shared his experience on previous translocation and said that the two elephants, which were translocated from Hassan in 2010, have returned. The conflict which was limited to 38 villages in 2005 has now spread to 79 villages. About 46 people have been killed in this region due to man-animal conflict between 1986 and 2007, he said.
Death rate
He said the population of elephants being very small in the region, there is not much gain for conservation considering the death rate of jumbos.
Sukumaran, who is also the Chairman of Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, stressed on people’s participation in manning the elephant prevention barriers and said that 80 percent of the barriers (solar powered fence) fail due to lack of maintenence.
Citing an example of an African sanctuary where the cheap and used railway lines have been used to set up barricades to prevent movement, he said that maintenence should be done with help of locals.
Dr M D Madhusudhan, elephant biologist, said that the heavy investment on conservation is going waste as the development works like highways and mini hydel power plants are undoing the efforts.