Need to solve elephant menace

We have been reading often the news of wild elephants trampling the labourers in coffee estates or destroying agricultural crops of farmers in villages. Compared to the individual kills by tigers/leopards, the wild elephants roam in herds and once they enter the fields to feed on agri-crops, they not only consume large quantities of the crop but also trample them and destroy more than they feed on.

The elephants are more destructive than any other wild animal and difficult to control when in a herd. Therefore, priority attention should be given to prevent crop depredation and to contain wild elephants in their original habitat –the forests. But how to contain them in forests is a big question. Nobody, even the “elephant experts” is able to give any clear-cut solution.

It is because this menace is not only of recent origin but also neglected by the forest department which has failed to foresee any fool-proof solution to the problem. Also, as the demand for tamed elephants has been considerably reduced, the population of wild elephants has increased. Karnataka was regularly organising “Khedda operations” once in two years catching about 50 to 60 wild elephants in Kakanakote forests till 1970.

That many additional elephants, say about a thousand, now remain in these forests to feed on available fodder such as bamboos, grass, and palatable leaves of few selected tree species. There are about 6,000 wild elephants in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve extending into Mudumalai, Wynaad and Bandipur/Nagarahole areas. The rainfall has become erratic (blame the climate change) and big tanks inside the forests remain dry especially in summer.

The main source of fodder for elephants is bamboo which periodically flowers gregariously. If the forest floor has good soil rich in nutrients, coupled with good rains, the bamboo seeds germinate and grow vigorously and this will help in enriching forests with bamboo again.

In case there is less seed production in many fodder species, the planners should foresee and resort to aerial seeding of mixed, pre-treated seeds including bamboos, which had given some encouraging results. This activity is forgotten now and forests are left to nature to replenish. The soil has become hostile and the natural regeneration is practically nil.

The forest floor is now smothered with invasive weeds like, lantana, parthenium and eupatorium. These weeds are aggressive, impossible to eradicate and prevent natural regeneration of other useful fodder species.

The traditional methods of artificial regeneration such as pitting/trenching and planting seedlings/cuttings, manual sowing of abundant pre-treated seeds of fodder species all over the forest will not succeed now due to the presence of excessive wild animals around. The frequent transfer of lower staff without actually handing over the assets is a factor for negligence and failure. Elephants would somehow cross breaking the electric fence and/or by easing the slope of trenches.

No fool-proof solution

The farmers adjoining the forests were advised to raise non-palatable crops like cotton, ginger, tobacco, etc but there is resistance from them as income will be less. The forest department is busy in this crisis management only without finding out any long term, fool-proof solutions. How long this can go on? The elephants have left their forested habitat for want of water and fodder and now stay mostly in the adjoining coffee estates in Kodagu, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru districts.

Forests are also burnt in many blocks due to the presence of dried bamboo clumps, which are not used now by paper mills for pulp. The department, anticipating the imminent flowering should have harvested green bamboos or allowed free to medars to use as raw material for cottage industries and to others as firewood.

It has become a regular activity of the wildlife wing of the forest department to rush to various locations with the domesticated elephants to drive away the wild elephants back to forests, but how long they can do this just to momentarily satisfy the complainants? Providing some compensation is also not a solution.

Few rouge elephants were captured and sent to camps located in Mathigodu, Gajanur etc but how many of them could be captured and fed for life? These camps are overflowing with captured elephants and maintenance is also expensive. There will be objections also to relocate as the herds will add to the already existing problems in new areas.

The department tried to dump some banana plants, sugarcane, fodder husks, palatable leaf branches etc near the salt-licks. Initially they did not feed on them but after 2-3 days, became desperate and ate. But this is not a solution as an elephant may require 100 -200kg of feed per day. We cannot meet their demands and what about the cost?

Then what next? How long the public will tolerate and keep quiet?  Experts should meet and solutions found soon to end the elephant menace.

(The writer, a retired IFS officer, was Regional Chief Conservator of Forest, Ministry of Environment and Forests in Bhopal)