Palita & Purohit Human‐Elephant Conflicts ‐ 86 ‐ Human-Elephant Conflict: Case Studies from Orissa and Suggested Measures for Mitigation S.K. Palita 1 and K.L. Purohit 2 1 Sr. Lecturer, Dept. of Zoology, Kendrapara Autonomous College, Kendrapara-754211, Orissa 2 Range Officer, O/o Chief Wildlife Warden, Prakruti Bhawan, Nilakanthanagar, Bhubnaneswar ABSTRACT In both Africa and Asia, elephant habitat is being replaced by agriculture — both small- scale subsistence agriculture and international agribusiness. The animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas of remaining natural habitat, which are surrounded by crops that elephants like to eat. As a result, elephants frequently raid and destroy the fields. Small farmers - often desperately poor and economically vulnerable, and sometimes forced by circumstances to encroach into elephant habitat - can lose their entire livelihood overnight to an elephant raid. There are also deaths and injuries on both sides. The Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) recently become very common and it covers headlines in major national and regional newspapers. The elephants were killed due to poaching, electrocution, man-animal conflict and mining related activities in the states like Orissa, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Kerala. The instances of man-animal conflict have grown in recent years in Orissa. There are cases of human kill, human injury, cattle kill, house damage and crop damage and also retaliatory killing of wild elephants. During last seven years from 2001 to 2007, elephant depredation cases have been recorded and compassionate payment made to the victims or to the family members of victims. 45.56 % was paid in cases of human kill, 1.48% in human injury, 0.12% in cattle kill, 14.15% in house damage and 38.66 % in instances of crop damage. During this period elephants damaged 23,241 acres of paddy crop. During the period of seven years from 2001-02 to 2007-08, a total of 365 human beings killed in elephant attack, which more or less shows an increasing trend with maximum deaths during 2006. Maximum of human deaths recorded during this period were mostly from Keonjhar district, followed by Sambalpur and Sundargarh. In our country, most wildlife species including elephants are nearing extinction as expansion for agriculture and human settlements have taken over their habitats. All these pressures call for rational long-term solutions. The following measures need to be undertaken inside Protected Areas (PAs) to keep the wild elephants in their natural habitats. The measures include : • creating more elephant reserves; • raising / improving fodder resources; • improving water facilities; • installing solar electric fencing; • increasing communication network;
Transcript
Palita & Purohit
Human‐Elephant Conflicts
‐ 86 ‐
Human-Elephant Conflict: Case Studies from Orissa and Suggested Measures for Mitigation
In both Africa and Asia, elephant habitat is being replaced by agriculture — both small-scale subsistence agriculture and international agribusiness. The animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas of remaining natural habitat, which are surrounded by crops that elephants like to eat. As a result, elephants frequently raid and destroy the fields. Small farmers - often desperately poor and economically vulnerable, and sometimes forced by circumstances to encroach into elephant habitat - can lose their entire livelihood overnight to an elephant raid. There are also deaths and injuries on both sides.
The Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) recently become very common and it covers headlines in major national and regional newspapers. The elephants were killed due to poaching, electrocution, man-animal conflict and mining related activities in the states like Orissa, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Kerala.
The instances of man-animal conflict have grown in recent years in Orissa. There are cases of human kill, human injury, cattle kill, house damage and crop damage and also retaliatory killing of wild elephants. During last seven years from 2001 to 2007, elephant depredation cases have been recorded and compassionate payment made to the victims or to the family members of victims. 45.56 % was paid in cases of human kill, 1.48% in human injury, 0.12% in cattle kill, 14.15% in house damage and 38.66 % in instances of crop damage. During this period elephants damaged 23,241 acres of paddy crop.
During the period of seven years from 2001-02 to 2007-08, a total of 365 human beings killed in elephant attack, which more or less shows an increasing trend with maximum deaths during 2006. Maximum of human deaths recorded during this period were mostly from Keonjhar district, followed by Sambalpur and Sundargarh.
In our country, most wildlife species including elephants are nearing extinction as expansion for agriculture and human settlements have taken over their habitats. All these pressures call for rational long-term solutions.
The following measures need to be undertaken inside Protected Areas (PAs) to keep the wild elephants in their natural habitats. The measures include :
• creating more elephant reserves; • raising / improving fodder resources; • improving water facilities; • installing solar electric fencing; • increasing communication network;
Palita & Purohit
Proceedings of the Seminar on Endemic & Endangered Species of the Nilgiris
‐ 87 ‐
• changing crop pattern around PAs • Capacity building of the villagers and forest dwellers • Encouraging traditional knowledge and local innovations and • To increase awareness campaign among inhabitants around Elephants habitats
and the common man.
Presence of wild animal populations like elephants which inflict costs on local communities around its protected areas, may in turn, develop negative attitudes among local residents towards elephant reserves and elephant particular. We must think for tangible long-term solutions so that man and elephant can live together. Instead of Human-Elephant Conflict in coming days we must do everything for Human-Elephant Co-existence.
IntroductionHuman-wildlife conflict (HWC) is
fast becoming a critical threat to the survival of many globally endangered species, in particular to large and rare mammals. The numerous cases from countries all over the world demonstrate the severity of human-wildlife conflict and suggest that an in depth analysis is essential to understand the problem and support the conservation prospects of threatened and potentially endangered species.
According to The World Conservation Union (World Park Congress, 2003), Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) occurs when wildlife requirements overlap with those of human populations, creating costs to residents and wild animals. Direct contact with wildlife occurs in both urban and rural areas, but it is generally more common inside and around protected areas, where wildlife population density is higher and animals often stray into adjacent cultivated fields or grazing areas.
A set of global trends has contributed to the escalation of HWC worldwide. These can be grouped into human population growth, land use transformation, species habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, growing interest in ecotourism and increasing access to nature reserves, increasing livestock populations and competitive exclusion of wild herbivores, abundance and distribution of wild prey,
increasing wildlife population as a result of conservation programmes, climatic factors and stochastic events. (Elisa Distefano)
In both Africa and Asia, elephant habitat is being replaced by agriculture — both small-scale subsistence agriculture and international agribusiness such as palm oil. The animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas of remaining natural habitat, which are surrounded by crops that elephants like to eat. As a result, elephants frequently raid and destroy the fields.
Small farmers - often desperately poor and economically vulnerable, and sometimes forced by circumstances to encroach into elephant habitat - can lose their entire livelihood overnight to an elephant raid. Big business suffers too. There are also deaths and injuries on both sides.
In the ancient India, elephants (Plate-1) were found almost all over the country except the high mountain regions of the Himalayas and coastal sea water mangroves. Deforestation and encroachment of habitat due to human settlements have led to a man-animal conflict, ultimately resulting in destruction of these intelligent species – elephant. Due to loss of corridors and habitat, the elephants in India, at present have scattered in more than 15 States and their estimated population stands anywhere between 15,000 and 20,000 (Anonymous,
Palita & Purohit
Human‐Elephant Conflicts
88
2000). Elephants are endangered and are included in Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which puts them on the protected category.
The Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) recently become very common and it covers headlines in major national and regional newspapers. Union Minister of Environment and Forests D. Raja informed parliament on Monday, April 30, 2007 that the elephants “were killed due to poaching, electrocution, man-animal conflict and mining related activities in the last three years”. Bist (2002) reports on the number of elephants being killed annually in India is as a result of human activities and approximately 200 elephants per year die because of human related activities. In the month of June, 2000, a herd of 20 wild elephants, including two tuskers intruded in the Regional Plant Resources Centre at Bhubaneswar, the Capital City of Orissa, the herd after pulling down its wall ransacked the green house of the centre (Anonymous, 2000).
The present paper provides an insight into Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) in Orissa, based upon selected case studies. It highlights common problems associated with HEC and suggests appropriate strategies for resolving the problem as well as conserving elephant habitats and its inhabitants. Study Site and Methodology
The estimated elephant range in Orissa is approximately 11,000 sq. km. Covering Simplipl National Park, South Keonjhar Plateau, Badrama, Banai, Karlapat – Kotagarh – Chandrapur – Lakhari Valley, Satkosia Gorge, Kapilas and Chandka (Figure-1). Out of the total population of 1500-2000 elephants in state, more than 300 elephants are isolated in scattered groups.
Three Elephant Reserves (ERs) - the Mayurbhanj ER, Mahanadi ER and Sambalpur ER were notified in the State in
the years 2001 and 2002 to define the prime elephant habitats and to launch various management interventions for conservation of elephant. The extent of notified and proposed forest blocks in these three reserves is 4129 sq. km, and the geographical area covered by these three reserves is 8509 sq. km.
The data on Human-Elephant Conflict over the years has been collected from the Wildlife Head Office, Forest Dept., Govt. of Orissa. Observation and Results
Orissa is endowed with vast forests extending over 37.34% of its geographical area that are rich in floral and faunal diversity. State is reckoned backward due to poor economic growth and low human development indices. 47% of its population reportedly struggle below the poverty line (BPL). Nearly 85% BPL families belong to tribal community, which constitutes approximately 23% of State’s population. Majority of tribal families live in and around forests with which they have strong symbiotic and cultural linkages. Over all, 40% of States population depend on forests for their livelihood.
In Orissa out of thirty revenue districts elephants are not seen in ten districts, namely Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrakh, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malakangiri, Bargarh, Sonepur and Bolangir. The elephant habitats are mostly in hilly districts dominated by tribal population. Estimation of elephant population is carried out periodically throughout Orissa. As on May, 2002 total number of elephants in Orissa was 1841 (370 males, 940 females and 531 calves) (sex not known) (Anonymous, 2004), whereas the figure on May 2007 stands at a total of 1862 (403 males, 973 females, and 486 calves). This shows an increase of 21 elephants inspite of all odds.
Palita & Purohit
Proceedings of the Seminar on Endemic & Endangered Species of the Nilgiris
89
Growing anthropogenic pressure exerted on wildlife habitats is the main reason for conflict with wildlife. The other reason is fragmentation and honeycombing of wild animal habitats. The loss of corridors and migratory routes of long ranging animals like elephant is the major reason for increasing man-elephant conflict in Orissa.
In the present study elephants deaths were mainly due to poaching (Plate-2), accidents, natural death, disease and in some cases reason was not known. Out of total 438 elephant deaths in last eleven years (1996 to 2006), 135 died due to poaching (30.82%), 121 accidental deaths (27.62%), 64 natural deaths (14.61%), 85 deaths are due to disease (19.42%) and in 29 cases of deaths (6.62%) reason is not known (Table-1). The number of elephant deaths shows an increasing trend towards poaching (30.82%) in comparison to deaths due to accidents (27.62%), natural deaths (14.61%) and death due to disease (19.4%)(Figure-2). The death due to poaching of elephants was highest during 2002, and in rest of the years it was close to 10 deaths per years (Figure-3).
The cases of poaching of elephants have increased due to increase in ivory trade. During the period of 2003-04 to 2005-06, total of 110.71Kgs of tusks have been seized (Table-3 and Plate-3), which can fetch unimaginably high price in international market. The cases of poisoning and deliberate electrocution are included under poaching. The accidental deaths of elephants include death due to accidental electrocution and collision with running train.
The instances of man-animal conflict have grown in recent years in Orissa. There are cases of human kill, human injury, cattle kill, house damage & crop damage and also retaliatory killing of wild elephants. During last seven years from 2001 to 2007, elephant depredation cases have been recorded and compassionate payment made to the victims
or to the family members of victims. 45.56 % was paid in cases of human kill, 1.48% in human injury, 0.12% in cattle kill, 14.15% in house damage and 38.66 % in instances of crop damage. During this period elephants damaged 23,241 acres of paddy crop (Table-2).
During the period of seven years from 2001-02 to 2007-08, a total of 365 human beings killed in elephant attack, which more or less shows an increasing trend with maximum deaths during 2006 (Figure-4). Maximum of human deaths recorded during this period were mostly from Keonjhar district, followed by Sambalpur and Sundargarh.
In certain areas like Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal Division the forests are regenerating as a result of peoples' participation. Elephants are moving towards such new areas after very long gap. Sometimes the local inhabitants, who did not have an elephant neighbour in their recent memory do not get a clue about how to live with wild elephants. As a result they fall easy victims to instances of depredation. Similar cases have been registered from Jeypore in Koraput District, where local inhabitants encountered elephants for the first time because of change in their migratory routes. In recent times elephants of Chandaka Elephant Sanctuary in Khurda district have been reported to change their migratory routes and headed for Ganjam district in south.
A wild elephant which got separated from its herd has killed a villager and ransacked thatched shelters of the locals in mineral rich Joda area in Orissa’s Keonjhar district, about 300 kilometers away from the state capital of Bhubaneswar. The incident has spread a panic among the locals in this area, which is situated about 70 km from Keonjhar headquarters town. The elephant continues to roam freely on the national highway seeking foods from the commuters.
Palita & Purohit
Human‐Elephant Conflicts
90
This particular wild elephant, blocks vehicles and grabs any type food items available (Dhal, 2008). Peculiarity of this elephant is that, while collecting food it neither attacked any human being nor it damaged any vehicle. But in some instances when this very elephant was irritated by mob, it retaliated back killing people.
In June 2007, a herd of 11 elephants from Lakhari Sanctuary in Gajapati District, Orissa made their way into Andhra Pradesh (Plate-4). They faced resistance from locals and then started a bizarre man-animal conflict which claimed lives of at least nine men and two jumbos. One elephant returned on its own while frequent stand-off between the two states saw launch of Operation Gajendra, an exercise to transport the pachyderms from Andhra Pradesh back to Lakhari by Govt, of Andhra Pradesh.
During this operation, one of the two elephants transported back by truck died in Lakhari due to stress and exhaustion. This prompted both the state Govt. to abandon the project. As a result six surviving elephants of the herd have settled in a forested patch in Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh.
The anti depredation measures taken by Forest Dept., Govt. of Orissa fall into two categories: digging of trenches and electric fencing around Elephant Reserves (ERs). Discussion
In many parts of the world, people and animals are increasingly coming into conflict over living space and food. This is mainly due to expanding human populations and the continued loss of natural habitats. The impacts are often huge. People lose their crops, livestock, property, and sometimes their lives. The animals, many of which are already threatened or endangered, are often killed in retaliation or to 'prevent' future conflicts.
In Kenya alone, over 200 people have been killed by elephants in the last
seven years, and wildlife authorities shoot between 50 and 120 elephants each year. With elephant populations declining dramatically over the past 100 years, habitat loss, poaching, and conflict with people are now the biggest threats to their continued survival (WWF, 2006).
Bist (2002) reported that in Sumatra, elephants are occasionally poisoned by villagers angered by repeated crop-raiding and house destruction. In one instance in 1996 twelve elephants were poisoned in Riau province. In May 2002, 17 elephants were poisoned in North Sumatra. There have been several instances of additional poisonings since then. Elephant deaths have also been reported from Sri Lanka.
Increasing human casualties have been reported from many parts of India, from West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Kerala. According to the government report, poaching of pachyderms is rampant in Assam with the state accounting for 39 such killings in the last three years. While 23 elephants were poached in Orissa, 19 were killed in this manner in Karnataka during the period. A total of 117 elephants were poached in the last three years (Anonymous, 2007). Orissa tops the number of elephant deaths, accounting for 55 killings due to various reasons, followed by Karnataka with 52 and Assam, 48. While in Kerala 20 elephants were killed, 19 of them were killed in Meghalaya (Anonymous, 2007).
The reported incidents of the present study indicate an increase in ivory trade leading to increasing trend of poaching of elephants. Likewise human casualties by straying elephants or elephant herds have also increased over the years. Elephants separated from the herds also showed aberrant behaviours leading to human casualties. They have also changed their
Palita & Purohit
Proceedings of the Seminar on Endemic & Endangered Species of the Nilgiris
91
usual migratory routes and entering into non-elephant habitats.
Of all the wild animals, the destruction brought about by elephants is the most pervasive for their wide ranging behaviour, fidelity to their home range, large appetite, propensity and ability to destroy properties. Asian elephants are particularly attracted to food crops because they are more palatable, more nutritious and have lower secondary defences than wild browse plants.
This is perhaps why the crop damage by elephants is reported to be the one of the most widespread issues and thus has been a root cause of human-elephant conflict across the elephant range countries. For example, an elephant eats around 200 kg of food per day and a single elephant can destroy a hectare of crops in a very short time; a small herd can decimate a farmer's livelihood overnight. Often, the people who suffer these attacks are already economically and nutritionally vulnerable, and the loss of crops and livestock can have grave impacts on their income and food consumption.
Such attacks can also lead to human injury and/or death. For example, the records show that in India alone, about 150 - 200 people on average were killed by elephants each year during 1980 – 2000. Hence, the field reports across the elephant range countries both in Asia and Africa describe local antipathy to elephants beyond that expressed for any other wildlife. This animosity is an ominous sign for future survival of the elephants, especially in the context of increasing trend toward a decentralized wildlife management throughout the elephant range countries.
Owing to this, it becomes imperative to raise public tolerance of elephants, and to do so the management should first try to find answers to the questions such as, why does human-elephant conflict occur? How serious is the impact of conflict on the livelihoods
and lives of people? How can we protect vulnerable individuals from the costs of conflict while maintaining elephants for regional and global benefits?
Conflict is often between wildlife and the rural population and the poor, and in many cases it is between large species and forest dwelling tribes. Most forest dwellers living inside our protected areas do not possess agricultural land or other means of livelihood. Even if land is provided inside the forests, the losses due to crop raiding animals will ensure that the farmer does not secure his sustenance. In Indian reserves, crop raiding by wildlife leads to a loss of livelihood opportunities for several families annually (Gubbi, 2004).
In our country, most wildlife species including elephants are nearing extinction as expansion for agriculture and human settlements have taken over their habitats. All these pressures call for rational long-term solutions. Spatial co-existence might be possible between benign species and humans, but not in species like the elephant and the large carnivores that can lead to large-scale conflict. It is not just the poor forest dweller who should be resettled from our protected areas; we need to stop forthwith all activities that are detrimental to wildlife inside our protected areas such as industries and mines.
In a recently concluded workshop of four eastern states in June, 2008 at Bhubaneswar on Man-Elephant Conflict, the forest officials agreed that man-elephant interface increased considerably in recent years because of fragmentation of the forest habitat used by elephants, and disappearance of their traditional migration paths. The Project Elephant Director of India exhorted the states to explore possibilities of erecting physical barriers such as solar power fences, to develop early warning system and habitat improvement. He even impressed upon the top forest officials to try to start acquiring
Palita & Purohit
Human‐Elephant Conflicts
92
land for providing marauding elephants a safe corridors.
The following measures need to be undertaken inside Protected Areas (PAs) to keep the wild elephants in their natural habitats. The measures include :
• creating more elephant reserves; • raising / improving fodder resources; • improving water facilities; • installing solar electric fencing; • increasing communication network; • changing crop pattern around PAs • Capacity building of the villagers and forest
dwellers • Encouraging traditional knowledge and
local innovations and • To increase awareness campaign among
inhabitants around Elephants habitats and the common man.
Solutions to this problem like solar fencing and trenches may not act as long-term deterrents due to high costs and poor maintenance. These physical barriers might also affect the natural migration of wildlife. Loss of standing crops, livestock and more importantly human life calls for mitigating human-wildlife conflicts in a pragmatic, fair and sensitive way.
Most problems can be resolved if they are approached with positive pragmatic solutions and not by attributing them to systemic inadequacy. Let's hope that we will tread the path with possible answers than mere rhetorical short-term outbursts. The plan should be fair, transparent, land-based and implemented in a fair manner.
Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) has far reaching environmental impacts. Species most exposed to conflict are also shown to be more prone to extinction (Ogada et al., 2003), because of injury and death caused by humans. Such human-induced mortality affects not only the population viability of some of the most endangered species, but also has broader
environmental impacts on ecosystem equilibrium and biodiversity preservation.
In conclusion, protected areas and the presence of wild animal populations like elephants which inflict costs on local communities, may in turn, develop negative attitudes among local residents towards elephant reserves and elephant particular. We must think for tangible long-term solutions so that man and elephant can live together. Instead of Human-Elephant Conflict in coming days we must do everything for Human-Elephant Co-existence. Co-existence is difficult but has to be achieved. Acknowledgement Authors are thankful to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Orissa, Bhubaneswar for information on elephants and support provided. References Anonymous (2000) Dwindling Elephant Species in India. http://www.pib.nic.in/feature/feyr 2000/fnov/f24112004.html Anonymous (2004) Man-Wildlife Interface. http://www.wildlifeorissa.in/MANWILDLIFECONFLICT.htm Anonymous (2007) 244 elephants killed in last three years. Monday, April 30, 2007. http://www.freshnews.in/244-elephants-killed-in-last-three-years-5550.htm Bist. S.S. (2002) An Overview of Elephant Conservation in India. The Indian Forester. Vol. 128. p127. Dhal, Anurjay (2008) Wild elephant spreads mayhem in Orissa, 8 Jul. 2008. http://india.merinews.com Elisa Distefano. Human-Wildlife Conflict worldwide: collection of case studies, analysis of management strategies and good practices. http://www.fao.org/sard/common/ecg/1357/en/hwc-final.pdf
Palita & Purohit
Proceedings of the Seminar on Endemic & Endangered Species of the Nilgiris
93
Gubbi, Sanjay (2004) Conflict in the jungle, Sunday, Feb 08, 2004. www.hinduonnet.com/the hindu/mag/index.htm Ogada, M., Woodroffe, R., Oguge, N. and Frank, G. (2003) Limiting Depredation by African Carnivores: the Role of Livestock
Husbandry. Conservation Biology 17 (6) :1521-1530. WWF (2006) Species Fact Sheet : Human Animal Conflict. WWF International Avenue du Mont-Blanc, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland. www.panda.org/species. .
Figure-1 Map showing distribution of Elephants in Orissa.
Palita & Purohit
Human‐Elephant Conflicts
94
Palita & Purohit
Proceedings of the Seminar on Endemic & Endangered Species of the Nilgiris
95
Table -1 Death of elephants in Orissa during last 11 years (1996 to 2006) due to various causes
