BENGALURU: The forest department is looking at the Big Cat Alliance Summit to be held in Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves from February 9-12 as a platform to address issues associated with the increasing elephant population.
Karnataka is keen on gaining knowledge on use of immuno-contraception to control the elephant population and thereby prevent conflicts. Efforts will be made to convince the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC) to give its clearance for the new initiative at the earliest.
“It’s been a success in African countries for over a decade. We tried to introduce it, but saw no success. Thailand has adopted it. We want to use it on a temporary basis in non-forest areas such as coffee estates where elephants now live. The matter will be discussed with experts from African countries,” said a senior forest official.
Forest officials said that they will take the visiting teams to elephant camps and coffee estates in Kodagu and surrounding areas of Nagarahole to help them understand the issues being faced by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Karnataka has the highest elephant population in the country. According to the Status of Elephants in India: DNA-Based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE) report released in October last, Karnataka has 6,013 elephants. The country as a whole has 22,446 elephants.
The officials said while it is a matter of pride to have a healthy population of the two flagship species, a set of concerns come with it. Their habitats are shrinking due to human interference.
While some stated that this is needed, others have opposed. They said the governments should follow all forest and wildlife rules strictly.
“The governments must stop people’s entry into forests. They should implement the voluntary tribal and forest dwellers’ relocation programmes on priority. Buffer and eco-sensitive zones should be clearly defined and demarcated. The governments should ensure that farmers do not grow cash-incentive crops along forest boundaries.
They should take steps to create artificial waterholes and stop all development activities in the forests. If migratory paths of elephants are not disturbed, conflicts will reduce,” the experts said.