Sindhudurg: Bewildered people, who have never seen wild elephants in their lives, are suddenly being forced to deal with them raiding crops and property in the central Indian Maharashtra state, experts said.

As per the Forest Department records, wild elephants have never been seen in the state, but for 2002 when they suddenly made their appearance from Karnataka.

Chandgad and Dodamarg forest ranges in southern Maharashtra have faced the brunt of elephant depredation – affecting more than 60 villages.

To work out a solution for the affected villages, a workshop was organized in the Dodamarg taluk of Sindhudurg district on September 20 and 21.

Forest officials from Kolhapur and the Sindhudurg districts and the adjacent state of Goa participated. The workshop was organized by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in partnership with the Forest Department.

Issues related to bio-diversity, biology and social behaviour of elephants, human-elephant conflicts and mitigation measures were discussed at the workshop.

Meetings were also organized with the affected villagers to discuss their problems. Damage to cash crops, such as, coconut, cashew and banana etc. by elephants has hurt the farmers most, as it takes a minimum of four years before they are ready for harvest.

Dr. P. S. Easa, Sr. Director of WTI highlighted the need to make use of the information gained from past experience to tackle human-elephant conflicts in various parts of the country.

“Creation of landscapes for allowing people and elephants to co-exist will be crucial, as elephants need large areas for living (requirement for food and space).” Dr. Easa said.

Ujjal Kumar Sharma, Programme Officer of WTI said, “This deliberation has helped the participants with increased awareness and to take steps to reduce conflicts.”

Five search-lights were distributed at the workshop. These are to be used by forest guards for monitoring elephant movements and keeping them away from human habitations.

Early this year, WTI had conducted a study in the affected regions to understand the problems faced by people due to human-elephant conflicts and to initiate action to resolve these.

Various steps, including record keeping of conflicts for future interventions and teaching villagers to respond to crisis were planned.

Pix credit: Ujjal Kr. Sharma / WTI