Humans and Elephants Struggle to Co-Exist, Losses Aplenty on Both Sides

As per the elephant census recorded in 2017, Assam has 5,719 elephants. The figure depicts the impressive capacity of the flora and fauna of "green" Assam, where the giant pachyderm has historically co-existed with human beings. 

However, contrary to the statistic, between 2014 and 2019, 375 humans were killed as a result the conflict with elephants in Assam. This was stated by the Union Minister of State for Environment, Babul Supriyo. Over 2,300 people in India were killed by elephants while tigers claimed over 200 lives in the last five years, the Union Environment Ministry informed the Lok Sabha.

The casualties are not limited to just human deaths. Elephants have too lost their lives in the repeated instances of man-animal conflicts.  

The Sivasagar Forest Department had arrested six persons for the death of two adult female wild Asiatic elephants which were electrocuted on 25th December 2020. The elephants were electrocuted to death while coming into contact with electric fences at the Digholdorioli village on the outskirts of Panidihing Bird Sanctuary. As per reports, the arrested accused caused the death of the two elephants by erecting an illegal electric fencing around Rabi crops in the illegally cultivated area on Digholdorioli grazing land.

Another wild elephant was hit and killed by a train in the wee hours of December 11. The wild elephant was killed by a speeding train at Panbari in the Chandrapur area near Guwahati.

As such, this reporter filed an RTI to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & Head of Forest Force. As per the RTI, over the last four years, 57 elephants in Assam have died from electrocution, 22 have died from train accidents and with 5 from poaching. These man-inflicted deaths are an account of the human-animal conflicts in the state. A particular factor in the data is that 95 deaths have been attributed to unknown reasons. 
 

In a similar manner, a wild elephant died in one of the ranges of the Manas National Park forest. As per sources, the elephant allegedly died from an electric shock. 

The heart of the conflict

In the context of the aforementioned incident in the Kuklung range of Manas National Park, it has been revealed that people drawing live wires to ward off the elephants are what lead to their deaths.  

"Locals draw live electric wires in their farms and houses. The elephants upon crossing engage with them leading to their deaths," a high-level official from Wildlife Trust of India told G Plus.

But to place the blame directly on the people would be wrong due to the sensitive nature of the conflict.  

In January, a herd wild elephants coming from the Kheroni southern range became a nightmare for the residents of the Garo Maju Basti villages of West Karbi Anglong district. The trepidation by the herd of wild jumbos numbering nearly a hundred took an ugly turn last week when Ashok Rajbhor (38), an inhabitant of the locality, was trampled to death in his bed by the pachyderms.

Different place, a similar issue

G Plus spoke to Forest Officials in Titabor who revealed that the elephants herd swamp the paddy fields in the area. This further compels people to attack them. The elephants cross the railway tracks and take shelter in the vacant lands of a tea garden by the day. In the night, they roam about 10 to 15 villages in the areas of Soikota, Letekujan Bagan, Gothona, Hathisungi. In these areas, a lot of agricultural land and homes have been destroyed by the wild pachyderms. 

"Elephants are migrating animals. They need to walk about 40 kms a day, where they gather food. As such, it is inevitable they will make contact," said Biken Pegu, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Titabor. 

In the period from 2018 to 2020, six people and two elephants have died as a result of these encounters in the division. One of the prime causes has been lack of sustainability of the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in Mariani, Jorhat. Currently, the population of elephants in the sanctuary is 55, but as per an official, the actual strength of the division is 10. They claim that the reduced forest cover is responsible for the situation. The banana plantations in the vicinity of the plains of Titabor have also been destroyed. 

In Mariani, there are increasing instances of conversion of forest area to tea gardens. The elephants have also stopped going towards the Nagaland side as the locals there are even more hostile. As a result, the area where they roam has shrunk. The corridor tracks are not maintained and there is a lack of food in the jungle. A few of the officials, on anonymity, have claimed that the situation has become only critical in the last five years. "The reserve area has to be bigger to sustain the population," added the DFO. 

The urban conflict in Guwahati

In Guwahati, the problems have taken another dimension with the increasing population and concretisation in the city. There are instances of elephants going rogue in the city. There are two major hotspots in Guwahati in Panbari and Deepor Beel. 

As per the DFO, Guwahati Wildlife Division Jayanta Deka, "People have encroached upon the elephant habitat which has hindered the elephant corridor." The traditional corridors have been in the Sonapur-Jorabat route which has also been disrupted. This makes them enter the city as they are unable to utilise the original corridors.


As per the forest officials, the people evicted from the area come back again. 
The future course of action

The ensuing situation highlights that in the coming years, the elephant-human conflict occurrences will only increase in the state. As such, it is duly important to take protective measures regarding the situation. The crux of the problem related to increasing human-wildlife conflict has caused the decline of habitats. G Plus spoke to Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Chief Executive Officer of the wildlife protection NGO, Aaranyak, who has offered few suggestions in the regard. 

"For the long term solution to reduce such increasing incidences of Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC), the need is to focus on restoration of the degraded habitat. Along with the long term approach, short term approach should be to disburse the compensation or ex-gratia to human victims of HWC so that animosity could be reduced through quick disbursement of compensation or ex-gratia," said Bibhab Kumar Talukdar.|


Aaranyak NGO further stated the need to start Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to deal with wild animals straying out to human habitation area. "We must remember that HWC is becoming an issue that needs proactive role of various other government departments and should not just be treated as an issue of forest officials. The role of civil administration is necessary in controlling gathered crowd and is very much essential to safely evacuate stray wild animals and protect the life and properties of humans," added Talukdar.