Forest officials of four states huddle in city to prevent man-animal conflict

Jamshedpur: As wild animals do not understand the political boundaries, the wild life or forest officers should also not bound themselves to a particular region or state.

This was observed by DK Srivastava, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Jharkhand, during an inter-state coordination meeting of Chief Wild Life wardens of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh at Forest Rest House in Mango on Wednesday.

The meeting focused on man-animal conflict and wild life crimes that are on the rise with every passing year the forest officials brainstormed on the ways to decrease the conflict and crime.

Addressing the meeting, Srivastava said, �Man-animal conflicts are common in various parts of the country in a variety of forms, including monkey menace in the urban areas, crop raiding by ungulates and wild pigs, depredation by elephants, and cattle and human killing by tigers and leopards. Incidents of man-animal conflict are reported from States/Union Territories of the country. In India, wild elephants probably kill far more people than tiger, leopard or lion.�

The officers of the states opined that the crime and conflict could be brought down if there is regular exchange of information among the states. Wild life management issues can also be strictly resolved.

�We must also observe the movement of animals and restore the habitat for them. Elephants should be provided security, water and safety so that they don�t roam to other places in search for them,� a senior official said.

The state forest department has identified several points that are crucial for the easy movement and sustainable living of the elephants in the Dalma sanctuary and, the prominent among them are constructing newer water bodies, solar fencing of the forest area and protection of the green cover in letter and spirit especially, on the Jharkhand-Bengal stretch.

�The water bodies are of prime importance for the sustainable survival of the elephants in the forest cover and we are concentrating our focus much on this subject at the moment,� said an official.

State forest officials should know the migration pattern of elephants as Odisha and Bengal have claimed that several of the Dalma elephants have migrated to their state. We are working on how to build underpass and overpass as several of the forests have been cut down and industries have been set up.

Several states have been indifferent and don�t allow the elephants to enter the state when they lost their way, this practice should be stopped and any elephants coming should be allowed entry so that they don�t make their way towards the urban settlements and harm people.

Providing assistance to State Governments for construction of boundary walls and solar fences around the sensitive areas to prevent the wild animal attacks.

Chhattisgarh forest officials said earlier they used to have very less number of elephants but the number of elephants increased to 250 and all are migratory elephants were resident elephants create less problem compared to migratory ones.

There might have been ecological issue for the migration of elephants and Dalma has around 190 elephants and the number keeps on increasing with every passing year.

Providing technical and financial support for development of necessary infrastructure and support facilities for immobilization of problematic animals through tranquilization, their translocation to the rescue centres or release back to the natural habitats.

Some latest tracking and navigation devices including radio collars with Very High Frequency, Global Positioning System and Satellite uplink facilities are being used by the research institutions of the state forest department to monitor the movement of elephants to understand their movements and their use pattern of the habitat.

According to forest department information about 60 elephants have died since the formation of the state and nearly 170 people have been trampled to death by elephants in the last one decade and high cases of human deaths owing to elephant�s crazy behaviour have reported in the Singhbhum elephant reserve.

Jharkhand forest officials present during the meeting included BC Nigam, special secretary, forest and environment, KK Chatterjee, RCCF, Singhbhum and KZ Bhutia, DFO, Dhalbhum. Chhatisgarh�s chief conservator of forests (wildlife) B P Nonhare and DFOs of Kharagpur, Baripada, Rairangpur, Balasore and other district also attending the proceedings.