Avoiding a conflict

Dilemma

The village is called Elaneeru but life for its inhabitants of late has been anything but sweet like the natural drink.

It won’t be surprising to find no coconut trees in the area after sometime. Wild elephants are apparently harassing the villagers, barging into their coconut groves and areca plantations, uprooting fruit-laden trees that are 30-40 years old and munching on the juicy, still tender leaves, fruit etc. Paddy fields are also included in the elephants’ feast.

After toiling hard to grow life-sustaining crops, farmers are forced to watch the damage inflicted, unable to do much about it.

Elaneeru is located inside the Kudremukh National Park that comes under Malavantige village limits situated in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. The village is around 11 kilometres away from Kalasa and three kilometres from Samse in Chikmagalur.

From Didupe, the birthplace of River Nethravathy, Elaneeru is just eight kilometres. It can also be reached from taluk headquarters Belthangady after treading 30 kilometres on a foot-trail through thick forest. During monsoon, the trail becomes impossible to use and people have to travel around 80 kilometres via the Bajagoli road to reach Belthangady.
The more than 50 farming families of the village had not heard of wild elephants attacking crops, let alone pay a visit to their lands before.

But for the past 18 months a herd of elephants is regularly visiting the village, seemingly determined to disrupt all agricultural activities. Nearby Badamane also faces the same predicament and the animals are known to frequent both Elaneeru and Timmayakanda, another village around eight kilometres away.

It appears that the elephant-human conflict has peaked here. People and forest department officials are perplexed over the elephants’ sudden interest in the cultivated land and its produce for the past year and a half. “More than 800 of my areca trees were brought down by wild elephants. We are scared to go there as the animals are unpredictable. Pouring rain, blood-sucking leeches and the slush created by the elephants’ footprints deter us from venturing out. Going out of the house after 6 pm is also out of the question. We have complained to the forest department even and the personnel have tried sending the animals away. But the elephants hidden behind foliage are not easily visible. Even the forest staff fear for their lives... after all they are humans like us. The department is trying to get us compensation though,” points out Nagakumar, a farmer of Elaneeru Halasinakatte.

“We can’t leave our land. Neither can we live here fearing attacks by elephants and other wild animals. We are prepared to leave the park if the government will pay us the right price for our houses and land,” says Jnanachandra Shetty of Melukumbri. “During summer, when the elephants approach we shoo them away by shouting and bursting crackers. But it is not possible to find out where the elephants are coming from. It is also difficult to get labour. The labourers say, ‘why should we get caught by the elephants? We won’t come’ and refuse to come,” says Nagakumar. According to Belthangady Range Forest Officer Arun Kumar, a tusker roamed the region for the past few years. He was joined b a herd about four months ago. With a calf amidst the animals, the herd can be dangerous.

“The department has taken action to provide compensation to those affected by the elephants. But it is difficult to check the elephants in this thick forest as the terrain here is very different from that of Nagarhole and Bandipur forests. If at all an elephant proof trench is dug up in this steep valley-like region there is always the risk of landslides during monsoon. Plus, there’s is also shortage of staff. We have warned the farmers, given them crackers. Those who want to leave the park are also being rehabilitated,” he says.

No scope for development

There is no scope for development in Elaneeru which is located inside the national park. Facilities are available for those who are outside the park boundaries. It becomes inevitable to come out of the park to avail of the facilities.

Even the government cannot help those who choose to stay within park limits. And the elephants are always a cause for concern for those within. Parents and children live separately for health and education purposes. It is not easy to seek a peaceful life for those families living under the shadow of fear.

It is not right, and possible, to regulate the elephants’ movements in the jungle. Wild elephants roam the forest for food, water, security and as part of their natural behaviour.

Permanent solution

It is but natural for them to retaliate when their freedom of movement is restricted or affected in any way. Shouting, making loud noise and bursting crackers will only agitate the animals further into turning aggressive which may eventually harm human life. It is better for those encroaching the elephants’ habitat to vacate the place and accept the rehabilitation package provided by the government. Getting compensated for crop loss is at best a temporary solution while rehabilitation is more permanent.

Fed up with such problems, more than 650 families staying within the national park coming under Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmagalur district limits have applied for rehabilitation.

Already 60 such families have been successfully rehabilitated by the government while 53 families have been rehabilitated by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Several families are awaiting compensation and rehabilitation these 5-6 years. Meanwhile, politicians, the administration and the forest department should come together to find a permanent solution.

(Translated by B S Srivani)