Man-animal conflict, big poll issue for farmers in Krishnagiri district
Krishnagiri: In Thally, Hosur and Veppanahalli constituencies of Krishnagiri district, farmers plan to raise the man-animal conflict as ‘the election issue’ because of the escalated jumbo menace.
“We plan for reprisal during election to those who failed to save farmers from jumbos,” 50-year-old farmer R. Krishnappa, of Beerjepalli in Veeppanahalli constituency told Deccan Chronicle. Similar was the opinion of other villagers in Thally and Hosur.
As many as 230 elephants stay permanently in the newly formed ‘Cauvery north wild life sanctuary’ on 50,000 hectares coming under ‘24 reserved forest ranges’ in the Hosur forest division.
Besides, the pachyderms in neighbouring Karnataka move out of the forest and enter Jawalagiri in the Denkannikottai taluk of Krishnagiri during its migration to the Venkateshwara wild life sanctuary in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh via Krishnagiri.
The problem was witnessed because of the migrating elephants that raid crops and also attack villagers on the forest fringe while moving towards the Andhra Pradesh.
As many as, 20 people have been trampled to death due to the man-animal conflicts reported in this region from 2012 to December 2015. Very few cases are accidental and others are avoidable if the local villagers have taken the officials warning about jumbo movement seriously.
Similarly, the elephants also died and sustained injuries in several incidents, including mishap when the wild animals crossed the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway, poaching and electrocution after stepping on illegal electric fence.
So far, more than 15 jumbos have died including one calf that was killed after being hit by a speeding car when the animal with its herd crossed the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway.
The district forest department, to control the menace has formed elephant-proof trenches for about 500 km on the forest border and also electric fences at places where required.
However, the officials are not sure what triggers the man-animal conflict in this region, leading to a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and other agencies for a permanent solution.
The IISC experts are of the opinion that man-animal conflicts in this district are mainly due to the fragmented forest region like in West Bengal.
A study conducted in West Bengal showed that jumbos in the state forest requires 3,000 sq km as its habitant place which is 10 times more than what is required for an individual elephant in the Anamalai forests of Tamil Nadu.
Other issues are the hierarchy system practiced by the wild elephants. In the hierarchy system the dominant group prevents the sub-dominant groups from enjoying the place, forcing the later to move out of the forest region for foraging and other needs.
Tough competition among males to attract its mate was also recorded as an issue triggering man-animal conflicts. In Such a situation, the tusker move out of the forest searching for the nutritional food for maintaining its body condition leading to the trouble for villagers living on the forest fringes.
