Human-Elephant conflict in Hosur Forest division

The above title namely Human-elephant conflict hereafter called HEC , is a phenomenon happening in our country for a long time . From the  writings of early hunters like General Douglas Hamilton and Sanderson, who lived in South India between 1840-1900 time period , its recorded that , then also elephants used to raid crops and get attacked.

I wish to share an interesting experience on HEC in Hosur forest division. It has been going round in news papers that, a big group of elephants have been camping in Sanamavu reserve forest , raiding crops in the night and taking shelter inside the reserve during day hours. Rumour was that, they wished to cross the National highway and wanted to get into Andhra side of eastern ghats.This happened between Nov25th and Dec 4th. Hence FD had asked for volunteers from KANS to help them in creating a safe passage for elephants to cross over.This communication reached me on Dec 3rd  evening and after talking to couple of fellow members, myself and Karthik started to Hosur on Dec 4th afternoon around 12Pm.

Geography of the Sanamavu Reserve

As written earlier, the elephants were taking shelter inside Sanamavu RF. It will be worth to write a brief on the geopraphy of the place. Sanamavu RF lies south east of Hosur at a distance of 11kms. Sanamavu RF is bordered by Shoolagiri RF and NH44 on the North. To east of the Sanamavu RF lies Beerjapalli village . To the west , there are some stone quarries and south west lies Sanamavu village itself. To the south of the Sanamavu RF is SH17 , and then a continuous stretch of forest till Denkanikottai but intercepted by one more SH numbered 85.The nature of forest is Shrub,Degraded and partially dry deciduous type. There is a non-perennial stream which runs along the length of Sanamavu RF, which is the main source of water for the elephants. Hence the elephants were surrounded on all four side by villages and with very little food and water to savor on.

Happenings on Dec 4th 2011….

elephants moving towards SH.(Courtesy George)

When myself and karthik reached the Sanamavu RF area, there were already a few other members of KANS(Sanjeev, Thillai, George) present with the FD staff in the area.By then we could hear crackers being bursted in all directions .Initially we were clueless on what was happening.But then we got to know from the rest of group that due to the confusion created by the villagers , the elephants instead of moving towards the north ie, the NH44, have moved towards Beerjapalli village in the south.Thus the plan of FD got a twist.After waiting for another hour, we thought of having our lunch break.We proceeded and almost finished our lunch, when the forest guard with us, Mr Arumugam, got a call that the elephants have again returned back to the Sanamavu RF.

Then we proceeded to Sanamavu RF once more with the FD staff. The scene there was really warlike with villagers present in every small hillock and FD guards also present in a couple of hillocks to the north and west. Also there were a few cattle grazers, acting un-aware and doing their usual business of cattle grazing . It was like, One group of villagers will drive the elephants from their side of the village, when the elephants  will go to the opposite direction, then the other group will drive the elephants and truly elephants were like players in a football field running for the ball.There were in excess of 45 elephants there in a very small area of maybe 4Sq km.

Crackers being bursted on elephants

Finally we along with the FD staff entered into the RF from the west side and started moving towards the north.The idea was to drive the elephants with all force towards the south ie, Denkanikottai RF. When we started moving towards the north side , we had to enter the valley. When we entered the valley only we could understand that the whole terrain was covered with bushes with no visiblity around . At one point we suddenly felt very close to elephants with one huge tusker watching us. then we got a call from the rest of team to come back as it was dangerous to move ahead with an agitated big group of elephants around and with little visibility.Hence we turned around and after bursting a few crackers in quick succession, hurried quickly to reach the hillock from where we started.

Elephant moving towards SH(Courtesy Sanjeev)

To our luck, the elephants decided for the better and started moving towards south side towards SH 17 and the guards told us that they are expected to cross the highway near a village called Beerjapalli. Hence we, the KANS members along with the FD staff hurried in our vehicles towards the SH.On reaching SH, We cordoned the highway by blocking at two points with about 400Mtrs in between. but in a few minutes many vehicles came and there was a hue and cry from the crowd in a bus and due to this the elephants moved to an adjacent mango grove.One more attempt failed as the elephants did not move and on the third attempt,we cordoned the road with a gap of around 900mtrs . We waited for about half an hour and by this time, about 50 vehicles had gathered on both sides. Then we had to educate them about the elephant crossing etc, but the crowd was largely co-operative.After about 30 mins,40 elephants finally crossed at around 7.15Pm and started moving towards Denkannikotai RF.We felt  happy for the elephants, that they have a temporary relief.

Myself and Karthik, started back to Bangalore, but then Sanjeev went to the villages adjacent to the areas where elephants went. Later on Dec 8th morning , it was confirmed that the rest of elephants also crossed the SH and went towards the Denkanikottai RF. Lets hope, the elephants have a safe movement to Cauvery sanctuary.

Observations from the HEC experience:

1. The elephants were in highly agitated state and were highly disturbed due to unruly mob bursting crackers.

2. The villagers were entering even the RF area and bursting crackers, causing heavy disturbance .

3. Many of the villagers and people from surrounding areas gathered there for the sake of fun.

4. Cattle grazers were creating additional confusion by diverting the elephants to wrong routes, when chased upon.

5. This driving of elephants is only a temporary measure, as this problem will only grow, due to the many encroachments of land and rise of stone quarries.

6. We KANS have to work with FD and Villagers in creating awareness about HEC and helping farmers in other ways so that a win-win situation is created for elephants, FD and farmers.

7. FD has to really keep a check on encroachments and quarries, so that the corridor is kept intact.Also the cattle grazers need to be checked.

We need to work on a continual basis keeping in mind that the Melagiri region will become an elephant sanctuary one day  and each of our small action will be a stepping stone to achieve that….courtesy