Action plan to fight wildlife encounters in Gudalur

Chennai: Serene Gudalur that serves as a gateway to three states Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, which records maximum number of human deaths due to encounters with wildlife, will now have an ecological action plan.

The Tamil Nadu forest department is working on a state-level long term action plan under which restoration of wildlife corridors, habitat improvement, provision of natural passage for wild elephants, provision of warning signage boards and acquisition of land from tea estate owners are planned, said Chief wildlife warden V K Melkhani.

Gudalur is now witnessing tension as elephant herds are positioned in tea estates and to prevent any further man-animal conflict, six patrol teams have been  pressed into service with 'kumkis’ and this number will be scaled up to 10 teams, if the situation persists. There is no problem during day. At dusk, elephants  enter estates in search of fodder and for their transit in search of water, the official said.

The local DFO has also been instructed to hold consultative meetings with tea estates and to close offices before sunset and provide floodlights in areas where elephants migrate, the warden said.

Tension due to encounters with elephants has increased in the past few decades due to developmental activities in the Nilgiris landscape. The department is legally fighting with tea estates to retrieve forests from their hold, said Principal chief conservator of forests N. Krishnakumar. The top officer also appealed to corporate firms owning tea estates in The Nilgiris to come forward and give back the sensitive estate areas sandwiched between fragmented forests as a token of gratitude towards wildlife.

“The elected representatives and public have also petitioned the forest department on the increasing number of deaths due to jumbo attacks and we are examining the issue,” he said. According to Gudalur legislator M. Thravidamani  seven people have died in February and March after encounters with elephants and tigers.