Stop interfering in natural habitats of elephants: Expert Pran Chadha
| Date :12-Nov-2019 |
Villagers chasing away a herd of elephants.
By Roshan Chachane :
RAIPUR
Grappling with the ever-worsening human-elephant conflicts in Chhattisgarh, Balodabazaar District Administration, without taking the Forest Department in confidence, has resorted to a potentially counterproductive technique of using hundreds of civilians to chase away the wild elephants, jeopardising the life of not just animals but the civilians. The Balodabazaar District Administration came up with this Hara-kiri of an idea to take over 600 to 700 civilians and a few electronic media persons into the jungle to chase away a herd of elephants few days ago. Armed with firecrackers, chilli-powder, and drums, District Administration staffs stormed into the Saal forest.
The Administration had recourse to the overzealous step ignoring the fact that such pandemonium only ends up irking the elephants, which in retaliation charge at humans if they got near enough. That’s exactly what happened in Palari forests, when Palari Tehsildar Harishankar Paikra, Patwari Prakash Banjare and some other villagers ran wildly for their lives even as their mobile phones, shoes or other stuff tossed out of their pockets along the way as the elephants chased them with fury.
This was a clear warning, yet some photographers and electronic media people went into the jungles to film the elephants and the result was the same. Make a mistake and it becomes a lesson, make it twice, it becomes a choice. Media people deliberately ignored the lesson the first time and repeated it by choice. Fortunately, the media people escaped as the elephants were most likely just mock charging, but it sure gave the media persons a nightmare to haunt for life. Since elephants have incredible memory they never forget the unruly human behaviour and start seeing them as the natural enemy. Uttarakhand High Court, in October 2019, had banned the use of chilli powder, firecrackers and other inhumane methods of chasing away the elephants.
Mahasamund Forest Department recently cut the scrub forest over 700 acres land, which was a shelter of elephants. So, a region which never had any history of conflict between elephants and humans has been transformed into another battleground by humans. A herd of 17 jumbos taking a halt in Sagaon nursery near village Rohansi in Palari of Balodabazaar is considered a peaceful one as there is no human interference and a stream is flowing nearby gives plentiful water to them. The herd will sooner or later instinctively move onto somewhere else. A wildlife expert Pran Chadha suggested that people should just leave the elephants alone. Stop interfering in the natural habitats of the elephants, don’t disturb or destroy their food and water resources. With sufficient space to move and survive in forests, there is little reason elephants would ever want to enter a human habitat and even if the elephants damage the crops, forest department can always compensate.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Atul Shukla told The Hitavada that it was a thoughtless plan to goad the elephants with chilli powder and firecrackers. The District Administration hadn’t taken the Forest Department into confidence or even asked for any sort of expert assistance. Shukla also condemned media persons who entered the forests with villagers to film the wild elephants, which resulted in the death of a villager in Mahasamund. Baloda-Bazaar Collector Kartikeya Goyal stated there are standing crops in the fields, which needs to be protected from the elephants.
Revenue Department officials are on the field to assess the damage to the crops. He also understands the risk being involved in the task, but the District Administration Officials are taking all the precautions to maintain a safe distance between the villagers and elephants. The District Administration officials must have taken the Forest Department into confidence, Collector asserted.