The state government has formed an expert committee to study negative human-elephant interactions in Gudalur forest division and to come up with “holistic, long-term solutions.”
The constitution of the committee comes after a recent increase in human deaths attributed to elephant attacks in O-Valley in Gudalur. The committee comprises of senior forest department officials, including the Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, D. Venkatesh, who is the chairman of the committee, and Kommu Omkaram, the District Forest Officer (Gudalur Division), another member and co-ordinator.
Its members are researchers and wildlife biologists. B. Ramakrishnan, assistant professor in wildlife biology at the government arts college in Udhagamandalam, D. Boominathan, the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s (WWF-India) landscape co-ordinator for the Nilgiris, Tarsh Thekaekara, Managing Trustee of the Shola Trust and Dr. K. Ramesh, Scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India.
