Red chillies to keep elephants at bay

As the use of red chillies to drive away marauding elephants in K Gudi was successful, farmers were advised to follow the method. The suggestion was made at a meeting convened by the forest department to discuss measures to check elephants menace in Mysore, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu districts. Sudhir, an advocate from Mysore, who has tested "chilly-effect", claimed that the results were astounding and many were following that method. He said that use of chillies was cost-effective as a few hundred rupees would be required and was better than expensive steps like trenches and solar fencing. It will neither harm the elephants nor the environment.

He explained that the red chilli powder mixed in grease and engine oil should be smeared on rope fencing around the plantations. The acrid smell scared the jumbos from attacking the standing crops. According to Sudhir, the elephants go away if chilly-powder mixed in bharani (dry cow dung) was lit near the villages.

Impressed by the suggestions, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests B K Singh, MPs H Vishwanath and Dhruvanarayan decided to include him as a member in the 12-member core committee, to be headed by Project Elephant Conservator of Forests Ajay Mishra. The apolitical committee would visit the affected villages, consult villagers and then submit a report to the forest department for suitable action.

A farmer made an interesting complaint at the meeting saying jumbo raids had increased after the death of brigand Veerappan.

Jumbo population on rise in State

The elephant population is on the rise in Karnataka, according to the forest department. The elephant population had almost doubled to 5000 as per 2007 census compared to arou-nd 2,600 in 1980s. However, the department admitted that the area available for the elephants had decreased. The space available for each elephant is 0.6 sq km against the required 1 sq km.