Amongst one of the widely worshipped deities in India, Lord Ganesha is an epitome of the link humans share with elephants. Elephants were and still are connected to divinity -enhancing a sense of deep respect towards them from amongst the masses. These huge pachyderms symbolize strength, unity and care. However, even though cared for and respected, like many other species, elephants too face grave danger to their survival due to human activities. Human elephant conflict in India is very prevalent.
Elephants belong to the family Elephantidae, with the Asian species (Elephas maximus) being classified as “endangered” by the IUCN. The Asian Elephants are estimated to be around 40,000 to 50, 000 individuals scattered across 13 Asian countries. India holds the largest population of Asian Elephants (about 60% of the total population). Therefore, in India, peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants is not always possible. Also, elephants are known travel across extensive ancient migratory routes to a particular water body or a foraging site. Conflict situation arises when these migratory routes are modified into agriculture fields or any other infrastructure like roads and railways. This brings about a negative interaction between humans and the elephants, generally weighing more towards the later. Various mitigation strategies have been attempted to minize conflict.
Reasons for Human Elephant Conflict in India
Crop Raids due to Habitat Loss
With the loss of proper foraging sites, elephant move out of forested areas, in search where food is available in abundance. Agriculture fields, especially during the harvest period then form an ideal foraging site. With their humongous diets, elephants are known to destroy entire fields in hours, thus, causing extensive losses for the farmers. This, then moves towards retaliatory actions by the farmers like electrocution or poisoning of the elephants.
Huge mobs of village folk are known to gather and drive away the elephants. Managing such mobs is quite a challenging task. Also, humans are often killed accidently by harrased elephants. Once the elephants know about the easy availability of food at these agricultural fields, their arrival becomes a recurring phenomenon, exacerbating the conflict. In all the elephant ranging states, like Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, etc., crop raids by elephants are a huge problem. In a recent event, a herd of 24 elephants entered Gadchiroli, a place in Maharashtra, where, presence of elephants was only known a long time back. This herd raided crops in that area, and the farmers had to face a hitherto unknown challenge. When agriculture fields are near to some forest area or any waterbody frequented by elephants; the crops become more vulnerable to elephant raids.
Linear Infastructure
The deep cutting of linear infrastructure through critical elephant habitats is a bane for the species. Railways and roads are a serious killer when elephants are knocked dead by a speeding train or due to injuries by collision with a vehicle. According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), about 186 elephants were killed on railway tracks between 2009-10 up to 2020-21. Assam (62) accounted for the highest number of elephant mortality due to railway collision. This is a form of indirect but extremely serious and damaging human- elephant conflict. Unfortunately, linear infrastructure cutting through wildlife habitats threatens hundreds of other species as well.
Habitat Destruction
Along with the loss of the suitable habitats for elephants, the destruction of the available habitat is another driving factor behind human- elephant conflict. Pollution, destruction of grasslands, degradation of water bodies, occurrence of exotic and invasive species is causing elephants to move towards human- dominated landscapes- again causing negative human- elephant interactions.
Poaching For Ivory
Even though at a lower scale in India compared to Africa, poaching along with heavy demand for ivory fuels illegal wildlife trade in the same. In Asian elephants, only the males have ivory tusks. With the Asian elephant classified as endangered by the IUCN, poaching for the tusks is a serious threat to the already dwindling population of the Asian elephants.
Conflict with Captive Elephant
This is one of the most neglected yet, strongly responsible reason for human- elephant conflicts. Cultural festivals involving elephants are known to be areas of stampedes due to an elephant getting berserk. This is especially the case for male elephants when they are in their musth. It is a periodical condition in male elephants characterized by highly aggressive behaviour due to rise in reproductive hormones. If such elephants are present in religious processions, a conflict is bound to rise. Hence, elephants at such processions need to be cared for and handled properly.
Elephants used for recreational purposes are treated cruelly. They are made to do heavy labour beyond their tolerance limits causing aggressive or vey submissive behavior of the elephant, affecting its health. Even physical torture is inflicted upon the captive individuals causing a lifetime of disability and mental torture for the individual.
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Conclusion
The reasons of conflict mentioned above are very broad and, in a particular area, a number of them may work together. It is generally the common people like the farmers and tribals who suffer the most, having unfortunately a very little say in the development planning. It is their farms that are near elephant habitats and they have to suffer crop and life loss. Elephants are ecosystem engineers and have a major role in the fight against climate change. Mitigating human elephant conflict is essential for the conservation of this species. Various solutions have been proposed, and this will be discussed in a future article. Other than minimizing interactions between human and elephants, providing economic incentives for conservation is crucial. One method is through the sustainable usage of elephant dung to produce a large variety of products.
Written by: Vaishnavi Apte.
Help us Help Them! Think Wildlife Foundation is a non profit organization with various conservation initiatives. Our most prominent campaign is our Caring for Pari intiative. Pari is a rehabilitated elephant at the Wildlife SoS Hospital. 25% of the profits from our store are donated to the elephant hospital for Pari. Other than buying our wonderful merchandise, you could donate directly to our Caring For Pari fundraiser.
References
- India: Up to 300people may be killed annually in human- elephant conflicts, WWF, www.panda.org
- Shaffer et al., (2019), Human- Elephant Conflict: A Review of Current Management Strategies and Future Directions, frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Conservation and Restoration Ecology
- Vivek Deshpande, (2021), Elephant herd in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur pose a new threat to forest officials, The Indian Express
- Musth, Wikipedia
- Janaki Lenin, (2011), Human- Elephant Conflict, Conservation India
P.S.- The next article will cover up the solutions for reducing the human-elephant conflict.