Why in News?

• After over a month since the forest department first mobilised its personnel in the state of Kerala, rogue elephant ‘Arikomban’ (literally, ‘rice tusker’ due to its known affinity to rice) has finally been captured.

What’s in today’s article?

• Human-Elephant Conflict (Reasons, Data w.r.t. India, Suggestions, Steps Taken by Govt.)
• News Summary

Human-Elephant Conflict:

• Elephant, being a large herbivorous animal, needs vast areas to roam: browsing, foraging, moving from place to place in search of food and water with the changing seasons.
• The ‘home range’ of an elephant herd can vary from an average of about 250 sq. km (in Rajaji National Park) to over 3500 sq. km (in the highly degraded, fragmented landscapes of West Bengal).
• As elephants are forced to range farther and farther afield, this brings them into conflict with humans.
• And as humans encroach on forest areas, planting nutritious crops near forest lands, building homes and roads and railways, this invites conflict with elephants.

Why Human-Elephant Conflict is a Serious Issue?

• Environment ministry data tabled in Parliament showed that the number of deaths due to elephants was 535 in 2021-22, down from 585 in 2019-20.
• Jharkhand (133) recorded the highest number of human deaths, followed by Odisha (112) and West Bengal (77) deaths in 2021-22.
• Elephant deaths due to humans stood at 82 in 2021-22, compared to 99 in 2019-20.
• Electrocution killed the maximum number of elephants, with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu recording the maximum deaths.

How to Avoid Human-Animal Conflict?

• Strobe Lights –
  • To scare off destructive nocturnal wildlife, farmers increasingly rely on automatic light machines.
  • Half strobe light and half motion sensor, the machines flash beams of light randomly in all directions to mimic a farmer with a flashlight.
  • Wary nocturnal animals have been shown to avoid such light signals.
• Natural Barriers –
  • To keep elephants at a safe distance from their farms and homes, some African villagers have turned to two unlikely, all-natural solutions: bees and hot peppers.
  • Elephants dislike the chemical capsaicin found in chili peppers, prompting farmers in Tanzania to smother their fences with a mixture of oil and chili peppers.
  • In addition to a spice aversion, elephants are also terrified of bees.
  • This realization has led to the construction of bee fences around farms to keep marauding pachyderms out.

Elephant Corridors:

• One way to reduce conflicts with wild animals is by guiding their movements in developed areas through dedicated corridors.
• Elephant corridors are linear, narrow, natural habitat linkages that allow elephants to move between secure habitats without being disturbed by humans.
• Elephant corridors are also critical for other wildlife including India’s endangered National Animal, the Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera Tigris).
• Elephant Corridors in India –
  • Number of elephant corridors in India have been changing over the years.
  • 88 corridors were identified jointly by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and published in 2005.
    • Wildlife Trust of India is an Indian NGO committed to nature conservation.
  • In 2015, a second round of identification took place — and when published two years later, the number of corridors had gone up to 101.

Steps Taken by the Government:

• Project Elephant:
• Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India for the protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provides the financial and technical support to major elephant range states in the country through Project Elephant.
• The Project is being mainly implemented in 16 States/UTs.
• India had 29,964 elephants as per the last census in 2017, about 55% of the species’ global population.
• Gaj Yatra:
• Gaj Yatra was launched by the Government of India on the occasion of World Elephant Day in 2017.
• It is an awareness campaign aimed to help secure Right of Passage for elephants through 101 vital migratory corridors mapped across India.

 News Summary:

• After over a month since the forest department first mobilised its personnel in the state of Kerala, rogue elephant ‘Arikomban’ (literally, ‘rice tusker’ due to its known affinity to rice) has finally been captured.
• The elephant wreaked havoc in the human settlements of Chinnakanal, Santhanpara and Bodimettu, raiding the ration shops for rice and other grains.
• It has been responsible for trampling as many as 11 people to death over the years.
• A team of 150 forest officials darted the rogue elephant with five tranquiliser shots after finally locating the elusive elephant.
• It is currently being taken to an undisclosed location where it will be released in the wild.