Coimbatore, Dec. 28
While people are pondering over the loss of elephants, considering the steep rise in Human Elephant Conflict (HEC), perceptions of people and curbing negative interactions between human beings and elephants should be given more focus.
Human’s empathy towards Asian elephants (elephas maximus) was ignited, especially in Tamil Nadu, after the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment announced those shattering numbers in the Lok Sabha. Close to 1200 wild elephants have disappeared from the forests of TN in the last four years, according to the Ministry.
Compared to the results obtained during the census of 2012, the population of elephants has gone down by 30 per cent -- from 4,105 to 2,761 in 2017.
What do these numbers signify?
First things first! Let the cat out of the bag! Elephant lovers can heave a sigh of relief as senior officials from the Forest Department and experts have opined that one among the two estimates is a miscalculation. Unfortunately, the fact that Tamil Nadu had 4,105 elephants in 2012 is but an exaggerated data owing to the methods followed during the last estimations, according to experts.
The traditional block counting method that was used back then may not give accurate numbers considering the nature of elephants. Though it was refined by top experts including Raman Sukumar, Professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Bengaluru – who is one of the pioneers on the research on the ecology of Asian Elephants –, if not carried out properly, any method would be a blunder.
According to sources, the recent census carried out in the Coimbatore Forests Division saw alleged miscalculations. And in some cases, - though officials have denied such scenarios – when the census party returned without counting a single elephant, elephant herds have ventured from the same reserve on the same day.
This proves that forests division had a share in the miscalculations because of lack of importance and research in comparison to Protected Areas (PAs) like Wildlife Sanctuaries and Tiger Reserves.
Since these areas face more HEC than PAs, it is essential to carry out landscape level study at forests division to assess the population of elephants and their interactions with humans. Until these are carried out , the numbers arriving in each census – regardless of whatever technology applied – would be erroneous.
Areas including Gudalur and Valparai, where HEC is a major problem, have recorded the number of elephants by identifying individual elephants using scientific methods, thanks to organisations like the Shola Trust in Gudalur and Nature Conservation Foundation in Valparai. Valparai has gone one step further in reducing the human loss by 100 per cent in 2016.
The organisations have tried to study the problem by understanding the perceptions of the stakeholders, which according to a paper titled ‘Human – Elephant
Conflict in Southern India: People’s perception on conflict and elephant conservation in Coimbatore Forest Division’, is an important step towards formulating feasible methods for elephant management.
Empathy aside, looking at the problem of rising HEC and changing attitudes of the stakeholders, grassroots level conservation is what is important if at all humans and elephants look for possible co-existence.
“My farm is raided often by elephants. But I cannot do anything about it except putting up a fence around my farm and hoping that the animal does not break it.
Elephants will keep coming and it may not change. It is the people who need to learn to live with elephants,” says a farmer at Thondamuthur.
Sounds dramatic, but an even ground can be achieved not when people worry about numbers, but look for ways to converting Human-Elephant Conflict into Human-Elephant Co-existence.
While people are pondering over the loss of elephants, considering the steep rise in Human Elephant Conflict (HEC), perceptions of people and curbing negative interactions between human beings and elephants should be given more focus.
Human’s empathy towards Asian elephants (elephas maximus) was ignited, especially in Tamil Nadu, after the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment announced those shattering numbers in the Lok Sabha. Close to 1200 wild elephants have disappeared from the forests of TN in the last four years, according to the Ministry.
Compared to the results obtained during the census of 2012, the population of elephants has gone down by 30 per cent -- from 4,105 to 2,761 in 2017.
What do these numbers signify?
First things first! Let the cat out of the bag! Elephant lovers can heave a sigh of relief as senior officials from the Forest Department and experts have opined that one among the two estimates is a miscalculation. Unfortunately, the fact that Tamil Nadu had 4,105 elephants in 2012 is but an exaggerated data owing to the methods followed during the last estimations, according to experts.
The traditional block counting method that was used back then may not give accurate numbers considering the nature of elephants. Though it was refined by top experts including Raman Sukumar, Professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Bengaluru – who is one of the pioneers on the research on the ecology of Asian Elephants –, if not carried out properly, any method would be a blunder.
According to sources, the recent census carried out in the Coimbatore Forests Division saw alleged miscalculations. And in some cases, - though officials have denied such scenarios – when the census party returned without counting a single elephant, elephant herds have ventured from the same reserve on the same day.
This proves that forests division had a share in the miscalculations because of lack of importance and research in comparison to Protected Areas (PAs) like Wildlife Sanctuaries and Tiger Reserves.
Since these areas face more HEC than PAs, it is essential to carry out landscape level study at forests division to assess the population of elephants and their interactions with humans. Until these are carried out , the numbers arriving in each census – regardless of whatever technology applied – would be erroneous.
Areas including Gudalur and Valparai, where HEC is a major problem, have recorded the number of elephants by identifying individual elephants using scientific methods, thanks to organisations like the Shola Trust in Gudalur and Nature Conservation Foundation in Valparai. Valparai has gone one step further in reducing the human loss by 100 per cent in 2016.
The organisations have tried to study the problem by understanding the perceptions of the stakeholders, which according to a paper titled ‘Human – Elephant
Conflict in Southern India: People’s perception on conflict and elephant conservation in Coimbatore Forest Division’, is an important step towards formulating feasible methods for elephant management.
Empathy aside, looking at the problem of rising HEC and changing attitudes of the stakeholders, grassroots level conservation is what is important if at all humans and elephants look for possible co-existence.
“My farm is raided often by elephants. But I cannot do anything about it except putting up a fence around my farm and hoping that the animal does not break it.
Elephants will keep coming and it may not change. It is the people who need to learn to live with elephants,” says a farmer at Thondamuthur.
Sounds dramatic, but an even ground can be achieved not when people worry about numbers, but look for ways to converting Human-Elephant Conflict into Human-Elephant Co-existence.