The Forest Department conducted an awareness programme in Pandalur taluk recently to minimise negative human-animal interactions in the region.
Residents of Ponnur, Devala Hatty, Valavayal, TANTEA No. 4, Athima Nagar, Mango Range and surrounding villages were invited to watch performances, including puppet shows, to highlight the reasons for increasing negative human-elephant interactions and also steps that can be taken by local people to ensure that they are safe, as they reside along crucial elephant corridors connecting Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and Gudalur to forest divisions in Kerala.
Forest officials noted that it was during the same time last year that there was a spate of negative human-elephant interactions in O-Valley range in Gudalur, leading to multiple deaths in elephant attacks due to a number of factors.
After studying the reasons for such negative interactions, local residents were cautioned against venturing out after dark, and to also avoid growing crops that attract elephants into their villages.
Anti-poaching watchers and personnel tasked with keeping track of elephant herds close to villages also took part in the events and shared their experiences with the public, which included school children.
The Forest Department also urged TANTEA workers, and private tea estate workers not to venture out to harvest tea before dawn, and to always check with the department about the location of elephants near their villages.
The department has also set up teams to monitor the movement of elephants around human habitations and inform local residents through SMS. They said that they were focused on ensuring that the number of human-elephant interactions this year are minimised with a combination of real-time monitoring, information sharing and awareness creation among the public.
