SUNDAY HI NDUSTAN TI MES, MUMBAI

AUGUST 31, 2014

15 |

ELEPHANT ATTACKS: THE TOLL
13
people have been killed in
Maharashtras Sindhudurg and
Kolhapur districts since 2002
21
people have been
injured in the same
period
11,000
complaints of crop damage have
been reported across both districts
`10 crore
has been paid out in compensation
by the state forest department, in
the xx years since it framed a
compensation policy for such cases
Wild elephants have charged
into Maharashtra, a state with no
history of pachyderms, driven here
by shrinking habitats in Karnataka.
They are now trampling villagers and
destroying elds. A ground report
AT LOGGERHEADS
IN A
NUTSHELL
The elephants
came here from
Karnataka as
the population
increased around
their habitat
there. This is
the rst man-
elephant conict
in the state in
40 years, the
period for which
we have systema-
tised records.
Praveen Pardeshi,
principal secre-
tary (Forests),
Maharashtra
I remember
when we rst
began to see wild
elephants in the
area. We would
take our children
to the edges
of our farms
to watch them
go past. We no
longer do this.
Now, most of us
dont go out after
dark. We live in
fear for our lives
and our elds.
Sanjay Sawant,
40, a resident
of Vados village
in Sindhudurg,
whose uncle was
trampled to death
in April
Over time,
unexpected
behaviour from
humans can make
elephants aggres-
sive, and I believe
that is where we
stand today, in
Kudal and other
regions of Mahar-
ashtra that are
new to hosting
pachyderms.
Surendra Varma,
research scientist
with Asian Na-
ture Conservation
Foundation
The elephants that have charged
into Maharashtra come from the
shrinking forest areas around
Dandeli sanctuary in North
Kannada district, Karnataka.
Between 1944 and 1990 alone,
six dams were constructed in
this region Supa, Kodsali,
Bommanhalli, Kadra, Upper
Kaneri and Tattihalla sub-
merging a total of 13,990 hec-
tares of forest land.
The Linganmakki Dam built in
the 1960s had already blocked
the migratory path south to
Mysore. The elephants had
nowhere to go but north.
For a while, they survived in
the forested areas of Dharwad
district. But a drought there in
2002 forced them further north,
and into Maharashtra.
By November 2004, there were
reports of 22 wild elephants in
Maharashtras Sindhudurg and
Kolhapur districts.
In that year, the state forest
department launched a repatri-
ation drive, calling in trained
elephants to guide the wild
ones back to Karnataka. This
drive was only partially suc-
cessful mainly because the
region from which they wan-
dered can no longer support a
large number of pachyderms. In
Maharashtra, on the other
hand, farmlands offer a variety
of high-sugar foods such as
mangoes, cashew apples, jack-
fruits, bananas and areca nut.
Unable to rid the region of the
elephants, the government
instituted a compensation poli-
cy in 2004, with sums ranging
from Rs 2,400 for a felled coco-
nut tree to Rs 5 lakh for the
family of an elephant fatality.
A MAMMOTH ISSUE
ELEPHANT ATTACKS: THE TOLL
13
people have been killed in
Maharashtras Sindhudurg and
Kolhapur districts since 2002
21
people have been injured
in the same period
11,000
complaints of crop damage have
been reported across both districts
`10 crore
has been paid out in compensation
by the state forest department, in
the 10 years since it framed a
compensation policy for such cases
F
O
C
U
S
200kg
the average
daily food intake
of an Asian
elephant
Dodamarg
Kudal
MAHARASHTRA
Chandgad
Dandeli sanctuary
KARNATAKA
Maharashtra is not the only state facing a first-of-its-kind
man-elephant conflict.
Currently, about 600 elephants across the country have
strayed from their natural habi-
tats, affecting human populations
in parts of Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand
and Andhra Pradesh, says
Surendra Varma, a research scien-
tist with Asian Nature
Conservation Foundation.
In most cases, they have been
forced out of their natural habitat
by infrastructure projects or
agricultural activity.
(Right to left)
Vijaya Jadhav, 45,
a Sindhudurg
villager trampled
by a wild elephant
in June and now
paralysed waist-
down, is visited in
hospital by her two
children; trees
destroyed on a
farm in Kudal
region; a warning
sign in Nivje village
in Sindhudurg; a
wild elephant in
Uttara Kannada
district in
Karnataka.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, MORE THAN 600 ELEPHANTS HAVE STRAYED FROM HABITATS,
AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATIONS IN TAMIL NADU, JHARKHAND & ANDHRA PRADESH
PHOTOS:
THINKSTOCK
government must buy our farmlands and
convert this area into a sanctuary, he says.
Then the elephants can live peacefully and
so can we, if the government helps us find
another source of income.
Local politicians have been suggesting
this for some time now. Another knee-jerk
solution came from a senior-level official
who suggested pruning all trees to a height
of less than 40 ft, because he believed the
cause of the elephants increased aggres-
sion was their inability to get at the fruit.
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
Experts say the real reason for the ele-
phant attacks is far more complex.
The fact is that it is neither safe nor natu-
ral for elephants and human beings to be
living in such close proximity, says research
scientist Surendra Varma. The villagers
in these areas are not used to having wild
elephants around, so they dont know what
they should or should not do. As a result,
they tend to throw things at the elephant
if they want him to get off the road or find
him eating their crops. This can disturb
him. Staring directly at an elephant or the
abrupt flash of a cellphone camera can
cause trouble too. Over time, unexpected
behaviour from humans can make the ele-
phants aggressive, and I believe that is where
we stand today, in Kudal and other regions of
Maharashtra new to pachyderms.
Adds Mehta: Until they find a per-
manent solution, the forest department
should educate people on how to behave
around an elephant.
The forest department now plans to call
in a trained elephant from Karnataka to
try and help tame the elephants, which will
most likely then be put to work, says Rao,
chief conservation officer for Sindhudurg
and Kolhapur districts.
Meanwhile, the standoff cause another
casualty in June, when 45-year-old Vijaya
Jadhav of Ghanvale village, mother of two,
was attacked on her way home from her job
as a labourer at a cashew factory, at 6.30 am.
As her horrified children watched, the
elephant picked her up with its trunk,
crushed her around the waist and threw
her to the ground. Jadhav is now complete-
ly paralysed from the waist down.
The government gave me Rs 1 lakh as
compensation, but that was spent a long
time ago. I had to go all the way to Goa for
treatment, she says. The family now has
just one earning member, Vijayas husband,
a daily wage earner paid Rs 100 per shift.
In addition to supporting themselves,
the family is worried about how they will
afford the shift that they are planning.
Our house is not safe anymore, says
Vijaya. Our four neighbours have already
fled the area and now live on rent in oth-
ers houses. My husband is trying to find
a rented house too, but we dont know how
well afford one.
Riddhi Doshi
riddhi.doshi@hindustantimes.com
F
irst the concrete road is lost to the
overflowing Nivje River; then the
slippery trail disappears under
overgrown forest vegetation.
The sounds of waterfalls,
birds, frogs and crickets are lost
too, to the sheaths of rain slash-
ing the red mud and the greens.
Eventually, the only sound is the
wailing of a 65-year-old mother.
Bhagirathi Bute lies curled up on a
mat laid out on the mud floor of her one-
room home in Nivje village near Kudal,
in Maharashtras lush coastal district of
Sindhudurg. She has been breaking into
bouts of depression and inconsolable sob-
bing over the past two months, ever since
the death of her son.
Baburao Bute, 48, a farmer and the only
earning member of his family, was killed
by a wild elephant on July 7.
He left behind a wife, six
children, and Bhagirathi.
Killed by an elephant
never in our dreams
would we have
imagined such a
thing, says his son
Swapnil, 21.
Wild elephants
were unheard of in
Sindhudurg until
not so long ago.
These are the
first wild elephants
in recorded history
to make the state their
habitat, says Surendra
Varma, a research sci-
entist with Asian
Nature Conservation
Foundation who
specialises in
elephant behaviour.
Their straying into
Maharashtra and the recent spate of
tramplings and killings marks the first
ever man-elephant conflict here.
A total of 22 wild elephants came to
Maharashtra from northern Karnataka
between 2002 and 2004, as their habitat
was gradually submerged by dams and
overrun by a growing population in
Uttara Kannada, adds Maharashtra prin-
cipal secretary (Forests and Revenue)
Praveen Pardeshi.
The elephant that killed Baburao is one
of three that now live in the 16 villages
around Kudal. Over the past five months
alone, they have killed three people and
injured two others a number that has
risen from an average of one death a year
between 2002 and 2013.
In all, the wild pachyderms have killed
13 people and injured 21 since they moved
into the state from their natural habitat
in Karnataka 12 years ago, says MK Rao,
chief conservation officer for Sindhudurg
and Kolhapur districts.
The elephants have also caused a total of
11,000 recorded instances of crop damage
across these two districts, with the forest
department paying out a total of
Rs 10 crore in compensation for damages
and loss of life, adds Rao. Meanwhile, a
total of 10 elephants have died in the state.
THE ELEPHANT TRAIL
The elephants that have charged into
Maharashtra come from the shrinking for-
est areas around Dandeli sanctuary in the
Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.
Between 1944 and 1990 alone, six dams
were constructed in this region Supa,
Kodsali, Bommanhalli, Kadra, Upper Kaneri
and Tattihalla submerging a total of 13,990
hectares of forest land in the region.
The construction of the Linganmakki
Dam in Shimoga district of Karnataka had
already blocked the migratory path south
to Mysore in the 1960s. The elephants had
nowhere to go but north.
For a while, they survived in the forested
areas of Dharwad district. But a drought
there in 2002 forced them further north,
and into Maharashtra. By November 2004,
there were reports of 22 wild elephants
having strayed into Maharashtras
Sindhudurg and Kolhapur districts.
In 2004, the Maharashtra forest depart-
ment launched a repatriation drive, using
trained elephants to guide the wild ones back
to Karnataka. This drive was only partially
successful mainly because the region from
which they wandered here can no longer
support a large number of pachyderms. In
Maharashtra, on the other hand, carefully
tended farmlands offer a variety of high-
sugar foods such as mangoes, cashew apples,
jackfruits, bananas and areca nut.
Unable to rid the region of
the elephants, the govern-
ment framed a compen-
sation plan for damag-
es and deaths caused
by elephant, via a
GR or government
resolution issued
in 2004, with com-
pensation ranging
from Rs 2,400 for
a felled coconut
tree to Rs 5 lakh
to the family of an
elephant fatality.
The shift has
brought bad news for the
elephants too. Their new,
sugar-rich diet causes
obesity and arthritis,
says Varma. And a study
titled Man-elephant con-
flict in Sindhudurg and
Kolhapur, conducted
by Prachi Mehta of NGO Wildlife Research
and Conservation Society, states that a total
of 13 wild elephants have died from malnu-
trition, injuries and infections in the state
between 2002 and 2013.
The scattering of populations also
affects breeding, disturbing the lifecycle.
CASUALTIES ON
BOTH SIDES
For locals, the elephants have gone from
being a novelty to a nightmare. I remember
when we first began to see the wild elephants
in the area. We would take our children to
the edges of our farms to watch them go past.
We were fascinated, says Sanjay Sawant, 40,
a resident of Vados village.
Sawant and his family no longer rush
towards the animals. My 70-year-old uncle,
Sitaram Parab, was crushed to death in
April, he says. There was no head left on
his corpse, just a mess of bones. Most of the
village no longer goes out after dark because
we are all too afraid of being trampled.
Sawants neighbours have faced devasta-
tion too, though of a different kind.
For two years, my paddy fields and
banana, coconut and cashew trees have
been destroyed by the elephants. They
eat the fruits and trample the paddy. As
a result I have all but stopped farming,
says Sawant. I have taken to cleaning
cashew nuts at home to feed my family of
five. My 40-guntha farm used to feed my
family and earn us Rs 90,000 a year. Now I
just make Rs 40,000.
With a population of 8,000 in the 16 villag-
es around Kudal facing the same situation,
Sawant says its time for radical solutions.
Either the elephants must be shot or the
A female elephant and her calf in
Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka.
PHOTOS COURTESY
PRACHI MEHTA &
MAHARASHTRA FOREST
DEPARTMENT;
HT PHOTOS: VIDYA
SUBRAMANIAN
INDIA